Abettor
by Reddepth
Summary: Fate seemed to have saved him from death, but was it for a purpose? What follows is the brutal tale of Humanity's bitter war against the Titans, all through the eyes of one Adler Klein. Little does he know, (or necessarily want) his role may be much greater than that of a mere spectator. (On hiatus)(Due for editing)
1. Prologue

_**Attack on Titan and all assorted characters belong to Hajime Isayama, Kodansha and Wit Studio.**_

 **—()()()()— = Time skip/scene change/perspective change.**

 _Italics_ **= Emphasis.**

 _'Character thought.'_

* * *

 **Prologue**

 _Age 842_

The sky was a dull grey, no longer a canopy of twinkling lights, a layer of gloomy clouds prevented moonlight from reaching a man wandering in the woods. Armed with only a single oil lamp's glow to guide him, the man stumbled through the thick undergrowth.

It was one of the many pockets of trees that still existed within humanity's stronghold. Removing them would have done more harm than good. Still, this was not a situation that allowed him to admire the serene beauty that surrounded him.

"Damn it," he cursed. He was taller than what was considered the norm for the people of Shiganshina. Another unusual trait was his dark red hair, and steel colored irises.

"Damn it!" He shouted this time, as he almost let go of the lamp and kicked a dying tree trunk to pieces.

"Don't lose your head, Eric." A calmer voice implored, its master shining his own light through precariously parted bushes. This man had dark hair that blended perfectly with the shadows casted over his youthful face, with eyes a piercing shade of blue.

"My wife and child have been missing for _days_ , Garren," Eric whispered, chuckling sardonically to himself. "What do you expect me to do? Celebrate?"

"I don't need your sarcasm right now, Klein." Garren turned his own lamp towards thinner shrubs that seemed to lead into a creek. "And neither does your family."

And as soon as his companion's footsteps faded away, Eric closed his eyes in taxing consternation. ' _Get it together, Klein. No one needs your crap right now.'_ The man returned to his feet and retrieved his lamp, walking slowly towards his right.

Fate was so crooked. Just when he'd gotten a well-paid job, just when he'd given up drinking for the sake of his family and bought a large house, _this_ happens.

"Hey, Eric!" A sudden shout from Garren startled him. "Have we checked the ridge?"

"Of course!" Eric harshly slapped his forehead. ' _Idiot! The ridge was their favorite spot! That should have been the first place I looked!'_

"Come on!" Forsaking his lamp, Eric sprinted into the darkness in his haste.

"Hey!" Garren shouted after him. "Don't fall on your face." He grunted, annoyance flickering across his elegant features, before swiftly following the younger man.

Eric's screams harshly cut through the silence of the night.

 **—()()()()—**

 _One year later_

 _Thunk!_

He stirred at the noise.

"Wake up!"

The shout did the trick, he immediately sat upright with his eyes wide open.

His father loomed over him, his face as flush, as usual, his gray eyes drilling holes right into him. Eric threw something, and the boy flinched as it missed him by several feet, shattering into a million pieces on the floor behind him.

"Get the wood, boy."

As the man stumbled to the other room. Adler quickly stood up and grabbed the small crate that the man had left him. It had two leather straps that allowed it to be worn over his shoulders. He went over and war his coat, a wornout piece of blue fabric.

' _He's as talkative as usual.'_ The boy mused, wearing the odd contraption designed for collecting firewood. ' _Looks like he's already drowned himself in ale.'_ Eric had been doing that for over a year now. Ever since _that day_. The day his mother disappeared without a trace.

This day had started like every other since then. Adler was asked to bring home twigs for the fire from anywhere he could find it, which was common enough for the townspeople to tell their children to do. After he brought it home though, his father would take it and not utter any other word to him for the rest of the day. Often, he had to cook some leftovers for himself if he didn't want to starve. It had really freaked him out when it first happened. Over time, he learned to just accept it, like he had to accept that his mother was gone. ' _Dad is still coping.'_ He would tell himself.

' _For a year, now.'_ He wryly finished the thought, blinking the remnants of sleep out of his eyes, and leaving the large, dusty house which he called home.

The streets of Shiganahina were as busy as usual, people rushing to get to work, purchase some food or for any other mundane errand that might plague them. Though not suffocatingly populated, it was one of the larger districts of Wall Maria.

Something suddenly knocked into the boy, making him stumble back in surprise.

"Get your head out of the clouds!" The man he had apparently bumped into half-shouted.

"Sorry," Adler muttered, really just relieved that his all of his load was still intact. But as he began to walk away, the man suddenly grabbed his shoulder.

"Hey," He paused dazedly, "aren't you Klein's kid?"

"Yeah," the boy answered cautiously, turning fully towards the man. "Who're you?"

" _I_ happen to work with him."

For the first time, Adler bothered to look him over. He had short blonde hair, gold irises, and a flushed face with high cheekbones and a very thin mustache. He donned a beige jacket with what Adler recognized as the Garrison regiment's emblem stitched into the shoulder.

And of course, he _reeked_ of alcohol.

' _He definitely works with dad.'_ Adler thought sardonically. _'Is getting hammered part of being a Garrison soldier, or something?'_ Something told him he really didn't want to know.

"The name's Hannes. Do you mind getting him a message from me?"

Adler answered, "Sure, what is it?"

"Tell him that he's been slacking, again," Hannes said while crossing his arms in annoyance, almost comically emphasized through his drunkenness. "Look, I understand that he's dealing with your mother's loss, but it's been over a year now. I can't let myself be easy on him. Not anymore."

"I understand. I'll let him know." The boy nodded, starting to walk away. It slightly bemused him why Hannes wouldn't just go and ask Eric himself.

"Hey, aren't you going to tell me your name?" Hannes muttered.

"It's Adler."

 **—()()()()—**

The sky was a wild orange by the time Adler's crate was full. One couldn't find firewood in many places near the main town but had to venture to near the edge of the district. One of the few places was a small forest which Adler remembered going to often with his mother, until just over a year ago. After she disappeared, he had not really returned there. The most peculiar thing was that his father seemed utterly terrified of it, which was partly the reason he told his son to go collect twigs for the fire instead of going himself.

Observing the serene atmosphere, from the rustling of the leaves to the tranquil silence, Adler tried to think about anything that could be frightening about the large mass of trees.

He gave up after a few minutes.

Soon, he was back at the main pathway. He quickly noticed that people were gathering near the major street that led in from the gate. The bustle became loud enough to pique his interest, so he decided to check it out.

Being a kid, he could not hope to see through the thick wall of people, so he climbed on top of some storage boxes to the side.

Men and women in strange uniforms were entering the town with their horses and carriages in tow. Their uniforms were almost identical to the ones worn by Hannes and the rest of the Garrison regiment, except with the addition of emerald green cloaks and a different insignia boldly on the back.

"Looks like the Survey Corps is back." Adler glanced at the young woman who had made the conspicuous analysis. She stood just a few feet away, some clothing hanging on her arm, and had the face of a typical housewife.

"They aren't much fewer in number," a burly blond man next to her commented. "Looks like they didn't fail as badly as last time."

"Oh come on," she said, lightly. "You give them too much of a hard time. If they're somewhat successful, why not acknowledge it?"

The mountain of a man grunted back, "Acknowledging it would simply bolster their confidence, and their pathetic record would just get worse."

Adler listened as the man continued his inflammatory remarks with a vague interest. His mother had always kept him away from the Scouts, saying that they were ' _a bad company to be around.'_

He couldn't deny that he'd always been interested in them, just like he was curious about every military regiment. From what little he knew, they left the walls to regain territory beyond with very little success, yet they continued as if it made no difference. What exactly was so special about the Outside that these people would risk it all with just the slightest chance of success?

"Shut up!"

Adler jumped a little at the very abrupt shout, glancing at its source.

A child around his age was glaring at the man who had made those remarks. He had dark hair arranged in rough bangs and big, emotive torquise irises that looked positively _enraged_.

The man was speechless for a moment, disillusioned that a little boy would dare to reprimand him so harshly, given his intimidating stature.

Then his lips curled into a sneer. "What's wrong, kid? Can't handle the truth?"

Adler swore he saw something snap in those eyes.

The boy took a fearless step forward as if the man in front of him was not seven times his size, and many times his age.

"If that's the truth, then why don't you try to change it, you fat bastard? Instead of running your jowls at people who are actually trying to, while you're hiding behind this big dumb wall like the damned coward you are!?"

 _That_ certainly got the crowd's attention, and some of the Scouts even stopped to glance at the exchange, some shaking their heads in exasperation, while others actually smiled.

The awkward silence broke when someone laughed, who Adler realized was the same woman from earlier. Everyone nearby followed her with their own chuckles, some shaking their heads while walking away.

"Idiot."

"Made a big fool of himself with that look on his face."

The man silently listened to the remarks with his mouth wide open in shock and beady eyes that were impossibly wide, in what Adler acknowledged was a _pretty_ dumb look. Then, he gritted his teeth and took a threatening step toward the young brunette, who yet still didn't back down.

"You'll pay for that, you little-"

Just as the man raised his fist, a blond boy with a long bowl cut and a softer face quickly stepped in front of the brunette.

"Now, sir, you'll have to excuse my friend, he often says things without thinking straight," He slowly articulated, ignoring the sharp glare he received from his friend.

"Out of my way, kid," The man moved to push him out of the way, but the blond quietly said, "You want to save face, right? You wouldn't want to do something to unflatter yourself, would you?"

The man paused at that, finally noticing the dozens of Scouts who were still trickling in, some of them were staring directly at him. While the Scouts were not the Military Police and did not share nearly the same level of authority, they still had the right to make arrests. And as much as the man hated to admit it, harming this hellspawn of a child was a felony.

With great reluctance, he let go of the boy's shoulder. After glaring at the duo, he hastily lumbered away, muttering, "Don't expect to be this lucky often, kid."

 **—()()()()—**

As soon as the brute disappeared into the crowd, Armin let out a sigh of relief.

"You didn't have to do that, Armin." Eren indignantly pointed out, "I had that jerk handled!"

The blond turned towards his friend with barely concealed exasperation. "I understand that you don't agree with his opinion, Eren. But he's long made up his mind about it and shouting at him won't change it. It will just make him listen to his lacking brain and beat you up."

Eren scowled and shoved his hands into the pockets of his maroon coat. "I get it, Armin. I just can't handle idiots like him."

"Well, you'll have to," the blond said bluntly. "There are a lot of them."

"What's so great about the Scouts?"

It took a moment for Eren to fully process the random question, and about a second for Armin to mentally cringe.

Eren turned around and met a boy around his age, with a strange shade of gray irises,a haphazard dark red hair that didn't quite look unkept. ' _Is he even from around here?'_ His features indicated quite the contrary.

To Armin's surprise, his friend didn't immediately explode at the newcomer. He figured that Eren must have caught on that it was a genuine question, and not just designed for malicious intent.

"What kind of a question is that?" The brunette asked with slight shock. "They go outside the walls." He added, as if it was that was the most self-explanatory thing in the world.

"I know that," the boy replied back almost patronizingly, "But what's so great about the outside? I always assumed it's just trees and hills. Basically, what's inside but without all the people, and with all those giant things."

Eren stared at him in disbelief, "Are you for real?" He finally asked.

The boy blinked. "Of course I am. Don't worry, you aren't seeing things."

Sensing that his friend's patience was wearing thin, Armin quickly interjected before Eren could escalate things, "Hey! I didn't catch your name."

After a brief moment of realization, the boy flushed, "Eh, sorry. I'm Adler."

"I'm Armin." He gestured towards the brunette, "That's Eren."

Before Armin could continue, Eren carelessly interjected, "We don't have time for this moron. Armin, just show him your book, and get it over with."

"Eren, you aren't supposed to talk about it so openly!" The blond chastised him much more quietly.

"You have a book?" Adler asked in bewilderment. The majority of people in Shiganshina did not know how to read or write, so the issue of anyone owning an actual book hardly ever arose.

After giving his friend a pointed look, Armin sighed briefly, "Promise me you won't tell anyone, Adler."

Slightly caught off guard by the seriousness in the blonde's blue eyes, the other boy soon nodded, "Okay. I promise."

Quickly making sure no one was within earshot, the blond continued, "Yes, I do have a book, well it's actually my grandfather's, and it's about the outside world."

Immediately recognizing the vaguely conflicted look on Adler's face, Armin swiftly added, "It has pictures, so you don't need to know how to read. We could show you if you want."

With barely-there reluctance, the boy agreed.

 **—()()()()—**

The book amazed him, alright. The three had retreated to a more obscure part of town to read it since apparently, the Royal Government had banned the publication of any book that dealt with the outside world, or so Armin had told him.

When he thought the blond was out of earshot, Adler had quietly asked Eren,

"How does he know all this stuff?"

The other boy just shrugged, saying, "He's Armin."

The pages were full of colored illustrations of what was presumably outside the walls. As he couldn't read like most of the townspeople, Armin would offer the description, while Eren just seemed happy to get an excuse to look at the book.

Systematically, Armin described mountains of sand, an enormous body of salt water, mountains leagues above anything he'd ever heard of and lands made up entirely of ice.

"How is that even possible?" Adler asked incredulously, the last part seeming to be the most unrealistic to him.

Armin looked uncertain. "Well, I don't really understand it myself, but I guess certain places outside the walls are so perpetually cold that they can just sustain that much ice."

By the time the sun was setting, they had barely gone through a quarter of the book.

"It's getting late," Armin said as he closed the book.

"Yeah." Eren acknowledged, "We should get going before the folks notice we're still out."

' _Oh.'_ Adler mentally slapped his forehead. ' _The firewood! Dad's going to be–'_

"Hey, Adler." Armin's address made him compose himself a little. "Nice meeting you."

"Yeah, we'll see you later," Eren added.

"Thank you, guys," Adler replied, smiling a little. Despite having a _very_ bad feeling about how his father would react to him being _two hours_ late, he couldn't help but feel that this was a truly triumphant occasion.

 **—()()()()—**

Slowly, but surely, the three became close friends. There weren't many kids their age and the few who were picked on Armin for having an uncanny interest in the Outside. Adler and Eren would occasionally catch them in the act and would have to fend them off.

Adler was surprisingly good at street fighting, considering he was a little younger than both Eren and Armin. His speed was his most remarkable trait. He soon developed a reputation by chasing off groups of much bigger boys with moderate effort. They began calling him 'the Red Death', which he found very amusing, mostly because of the reason he was so good at street fighting.

On the day he'd met Eren and Armin, as expected, Eric Klein hadn't taken very kindly to his son arriving so late. After . . . 'lecturing _'_ him, he'd thrown him out of the house for the night for the first of many times.

After certain _experiences_ both with his father and during these occasions, Adler became quite adept at defending himself. After all, there was a reason his speed _was_ his most impressive trait.

To his own surprise, Adler soon learned how to read and write(albeit, a work in progress). Eren's father was Grisha Yeager, the famous doctor that had once singlehandedly saved the entire population of Shiganshina from a plague. So, it would only be natural that he would have been made literate. Armin's grandfather was a retired journalist who resigned when the government's press control became too restrictive for him, whenever that might have been.

Armin's parents had actually attempted to explore outside the walls a few years ago, but they had never returned and were long presumed dead. Armin seemed to have moved on, which made Adler secretly look up to him even more, considering their somewhat similar circumstances.

The three often met at one of the many public fountains that dotted the main market area. They served as a water source, as well as an aesthetic feature. Though the number of times Adler could join them was very limited, as he still looked after the needs of his father who seemed to be spiraling deeper into whatever hole he'd dug himself into, it was only inevitable that Hannes would dismiss him for being absent from work for so long, and Adler would have to pay the consequences.

A year went by before any of them knew it. One day, when Adler finally got away from Eric long enough to see his friends, he was surprised to see that there was someone else with them. A girl, about the same age and height of the others. She had long dark hair, but her irises were as dark as her pupils. A red scarf was wrapped around her neck. Specifically, Eren's red scarf.

"This is Mikasa," Eren answered the unasked question.

"Nice to meet you." The timid girl greeted him, half of her elegant face hidden behind the garment.

Adler awkwardly returned her greeting, then sent a questioning glance to Armin, who silently replied that he would fill him in later.

Just like that, the trio became the quartet.

 **—()()()()—**

 _Age 845_

"Hey!"

He felt a sudden, smashing pain in his right arm, making him awaken with a startled yelp.

"Wake up!"

He felt it again, on his leg, this time a little harder. Glancing up, he saw Eric looming over him. The burgundy man had really let himself go. No longer was he the strong, sometimes intimidating figure Adler vividly remembered. Now, he just looked ill, with his reddened face and defined cheekbones jutting out of sharp, gaunt cheeks.

Adler saw the man's leg tense again, and rolled back before just Eric could kick him for a third time.

"Get to work." His father said succinctly, then stumbled out of the room. The boy watched him leave, sweat trailing a down the side of his face. He exhaled slowly, trying to calm down.

Ever since Eric had been fired from working at the Garrison regiment, he made his son do odd jobs around the neighborhood for a few sickles so they could have something to eat, kind of. Eric often just spent it on alcoholic beverages for himself and would leave Adler to organize nutrition for himself.

The boy sighed, before quickly getting ready and wearing his coat, departing from the dusty house which was one of the larger ones in the district. He always felt better when he left it.

Adler glanced around, blinking through the sunlight. The streets were busier than usual, which meant that it was still relatively early. _'All of the neighbors are probably at work. I could probably meet with the others and still have time.'_

After a moment of contemplation, and the sharp twinge of his bruising flesh starkly reminding him, he decided against it. _'Better to just get it over with.'_

By the time the redhead returned home, Eric was thankfully passed out on an old chair. So, Adler just left the money he had collected on the table next to him. Then, the boy quietly departed the house again.

 **—()()()()—**

"Why can't they just let us dream?" Eren asked in frustration. Armin and Mikasa were seated next to him, the former of whom had just been picked on by the neighbourhood bullies again.

"It's because they're afraid, Eren," the blond quietly said, "These aren't just walls to them, it's a way of life, as feeble as it may be. The notion that they can be broken down is just unacceptable to them."

Eren gritted his teeth, "That's no excuse and you know it."

Armin shrugged. "I know it isn't, but I can understand their reasoning, at least. Even though I don't come close to agreeing with it."

They heard footsteps, and noticed someone approaching,

"Hey Adler," Mikasa greeted. Over the years, her timidness had almost completely vanished.

"Hey Mikasa." Adler nodded at her and took a seat on the space next to Eren. He soon noticed the bruise on Armin's face and sympathetically asked, "They didn't rough you up too bad, did they?"

"I'm fine." Armin assured him, "Truth be told, we were wondering where you were. You aren't usually this late."

"That's only _if_ he shows up in the first place." Eren grumbled, staring at his reflection in the water.

"Oh," The redhead was slightly surprised at that. He hadn't expected them to notice his growing tardiness.

He rubbed his short bangs down as the wind picked them up, saying, "You know, running the occasional errands for my old man."

Armin hummed in acknowledgment, though the others could tell he was thinking about something.

"I can't believe you sold me out." Eren muttered to the girl next to him.

"I never promised you anything." Mikasa asserted smoothly, not showing an ounce of regret or guilt

"Wait," Adler intoned, " 'sold you out'? About what?"

Eren tossed a pebble into the water. "She told mom and dad that I wanted to join the Scouts!"

"Oh." Adler said dumbly, almost sighing in relief, unconsciously flexing his still aching arm. The Yeager's wrath was the least of his fears. "I take it, they're unhappy?" He asked idly.

"That's an understatement," Eren muttered. He suddenly glanced at the younger boy, his eyes showing mild concern, "Hey are you okay? You're moving a little oddly."

"I am?"

"Now that you mention it," Armin added, "You normally have longer strides when you walk."

"Well, it's been a long day." The redhead pointed out, leaning back a little, "Maybe I'm just tired."

He tried not to be fazed by their doubtful looks. It hadn't been easy to keep his domestic life a secret from them. They were all very perceptive, _especially_ Armin. Telling them would just worry them and wouldn't change a thing. It wasn't like they could have done anything. Besides, he could deal with it.

Luckily for Adler, or perhaps unluckily, his friends never got the chance to question him.

An enormous, orange lightning bolt nearly blinded them as it struck the ground somewhere outside the wall, causing the earth beneath their feet to throw them into the air. Adler heard a splash before he painfully collided against the cobblestone himself. Groaning as he returned to his feet, he groggily looked around as he slowly blinked the stars out of his eyes.

"What happened!?" Eren questioned. He'd fallen into the fountain next to them and was soaked from the waist down.

"An explosion!"

The people around them weren't much calmer, and many of them desperately flocked in a certain direction.

"Let's see where they're going." Adler suggested and they followed the crowd until it halted at a place that offered them a vantage point to look at Wall Maria's gate which lead into the district from the outside.

The sight before them forever branded itself into their young minds. A skinless, skeletal hand the size of a small house was gripping the top of Wall Maria. A nightmarish head soon followed it. Like the hand, it was skinless and its bones gleamed underneath the sun as did its massive teeth, which were visible in a perpetual snarl. Its boulder sized eyes stared down at them.

"It's a Titan!" Armin exclaimed in disbelief, "But the wall's fifty meters high!"

The giant creature seemed to lean forward, then the ground shook for a second time, a mighty gust of wind accompanying it and threatening to throw them all off balance.

"It kicked a hole into the wall!"

Someone exclaimed as Adler's eyes swerved to the gate of Wall Maria, he realized with a flare that the Wall had indeed been breached and tall humanoid yet completely inhuman creatures were stepping in through the breach and stomped into the district with wide, bloodthirsty grins.

The crowd quickly dissolved as everyone ran in every possible direction, trying futilely to escape the titan scourge that had befallen them.

"Eren!"

Adler was broken out of his stupor as Armin called out Eren's name. He and Mikasa had suddenly ran in the direction of their house, which was enough for him to figure out their intentions.

Trying to ignore his own instincts, he grabbed his friend's arm, "Come on, Armin! We have to get to the boats, we have to trust them to come back!"

After a moment, Armin seemed to compose himself to some extent and nodded. Together, they quickly navigated through the chaos around them, trying to ignore the screams of people crying out in terror or pleading for their lives, they tried to ignore the earth continuously shaking under the strain of giants roaming over it. Still being children, the two found it much easier to maneuver themselves through the stampede of people than any adult could have.

Finally, they reached the main docking site of the escape boats. The boats were designed to run along a large moat that lead into the interior of Wall Maria. Though there was a gate, it was much too reckless to let people escape Shiganshina through it.

"We made it." Armin breathed out, stopping in front of the moat.

"Get on the boat Armin!" Adler urged him, quickly spotting someone, "I see your grandfather!"

Armin followed his gaze and his eyes brightened as much as they could in the situation. "Yeah!"

Gray eyes glanced around. Seeing his chance, the redhead quickly departed from the main docking area ignoring his friend for him. Armin was safe, now he had to make sure the other two didn't get themselves killed. As much as he hated to admit it, he also needed to check on his father. No doubt, the man was too drunk to walk out of the house, let alone get to the boats.

He veered to the side to avoid crashing into a woman and had to dodge again as a man threatened to flatten him. He sprinted when the crowd thinned, but then reached a deadend. Cursing, he took a separate route to avoid the mountains of rubble. Luckily for him, he hadn't encountered a single titan yet-

Something snagged his foot and he couldn't react fast enough, falling face-first into the dirt, tasting blood. His head spun, his eyes glazed over as he tried to blink the white out of his eyes.

"You aren't going anywhere, you bastard."

The voice startled him, but he still dared to look at its source, and recoiled as he saw his own father's wild ash eyes stare back at him with baleful maliciousness. The man was trapped in rubble shoulder down, but that didn't seem to bother him.

"D-Dad?" He faltered, struggling to get his leg free, ignoring the hot pain that resulted from his already bruised flesh rubbing against the debris-filled ground. "Let go!"

"No!" Eric spat back at him, "You're going to die, you monster!"

Adler stared at him in shock, still not ceasing to futily struggle against the man's grip. "What are you-"

"I hate you, you hear me!" The former Garrison soldier shouted, spit landing on his startled captive, oblivious to the turmoil around them. "I won't let you escape, you'll die _here!"_

The boy was caught completely off-guard by the level of enmity that emitted from the man in front of him. It almost seemed to suffocate him with its bloodlust, and he stopped struggling until Eric tried to pull him closer.

A deeper voice than his own suddenly cut through the anarchy around them, "Let him go, Eric!"

The face of a familiar blonde man came into sight.

 _'Hannes?'_ The soldier tried to wrench his father's persistent grip off of him.

"Let go, you sick bastard!" Hannes yelled out in frustration when the man's grip hadn't wavered a centimeter.

"No! I need to kill him!" The man stuck in the ground hollered back, his cloudy eyes, so much like his son's, nearly bugging out with desperation.

 _'Why is he so fixated on killing me!?'_ Adler wordlessly deplored, tears forming in his eyes. But then, someone harshly shook his shoulders enough to make him cry out in surprise.

"Snap out of it, you idiot!" Familiar torquise eyes drilled into his own. "Don't give up! Don't let this bastard win! Fight him, Adler!" Eren shouted at him. He looked just as traumatized as everyone else by the nightmarish situation, but his friend still retained that angry fire of his that had always defined him. After a moment, Adler nodded, renewing his struggles with all his vigour, not hesitating to slam his boot into the man's face, breaking his nose in a spray of crimson.

Yet, Eric just wouldn't let go.

"That's it!" Hannes shouted, drawing his blades and summarily cut through his former colleague's arm.

More hot blood splashed onto the boy's ankle as the man screamed, but the grip finally loosened and Adler managed to pull his leg free.

"Come on!" Hannes beckoned, throwing Eren over his shoulder without warning and pulling Adler along with them by his hand. The boy was stumbling, and his father's maddened, pained shouts ringing behind them weren't helping anyone. It was truly a miracle that no titan had found them yet.

 _'What the hell happened to you, Eric?'_

Once he saw that the boy was reasonably attentive again, Hannes loosened his grip on his arm to facilitate his grip on Eren. "Keep close, Mikasa!" He said to the girl, who was thankfully still with them. He had failed Carla, but he would be damned if he failed them too!

"We're almost there, kids!" Oblivious to him, the younger boy's hand had slipped through his own icy one.

Adler lagged behind, struggling not to favour his leg. He needed to catch his breath, his surroundings were becoming unfocused, maybe he had hit his head when he fell-

Someone called out his name, but before he could even look to see who it was, he felt something large and solid _ram_ into his body with so much force that he blacked out. H

He felt odd, almost like he was weightless, then coldness embraced him, before the darkness overtook him.

* * *

A/N: Constructive criticism would be priceless.


	2. Chapter 1

_**Attack on Titan is the property of Hajime Isayama, Kodansha, Wit Studio and Funimation.**_

 **—()()()()—** = Scene change/Perspective change/Time skip

 _Emphasis_

 _'Character thought.'_

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

 ** _Stranger Danger_**

In the midst of it, Shiganshina could have easily resembled a scene from a Scout's worst nightmares. Aberrations that had pushed mankind to the brink of extinction in less than a hundred years had overcome Wall Maria.

Finally, they had finally ruptured through the barrier that had meekly attempted to keep them at bay. The city emanated terror as Titans stepped foot into humanity's territory for the first time in over a century, as if to remind the world that humans were truly the only prey at the bottom of the Titans' food chain.

Through the bloodshed and destruction, some were going to be among the survivors , while the blood of others would coat the once busy streets of the outlier district.

Hannes had thought they were so close, just within meters of the boats and almost out of the malignant reach of the hideous Titans. But then, he noticed that his hand felt oddly cold and empty. As if hitting a brick wall, he suddenly stopped and glanced sharply to the side, but Adler was no longer anywhere in sight.

Thinking quickly, Hannes stopped and placed Eren on the ground.

"What-," Eren struggled to speak, glancing around in confusion, then his eyes widened in realization, "Where's Adler?"

Hannes could tell that the boy was still in shock from witnessing the gruesome demise of his mother, and likely was still unable to think straight, so he turned to Mikasa instead. She too was not exactly in the best state of mind, but Hannes knew that she had been through a similar traumatic experience in the past, which was why her pain was more dulled, and she was considerably more alert and composed than her somewhat dazed friend. It had only been a stroke of luck and an influx of adrenaline that had even enabled Eren to help save Adler, and both had been starkly running short.

"Mikasa," Hannes knelt onto his knee to gaze into her eyes, his voice strained but firm, "take Eren and get to the boats. I'll go get Adler."

A flash of anxiety penetrated Mikasa's pale features, before she briskly shoved it deep under with the iron resolve most adults would covert. Determination hardened her delicate features and she nodded, grabbing Eren's arm and dragging him with her into a sprint.

"Hey, wait-" Eren yelled out, but found himself unsteadily running along with the girl, and the two quickly disappeared towards the escape boats.

Once he was sure that they would safely board the boats, Hannes hastened as he turned around and began to navigate through the unruly swarm of terrified people, desperately looking for a mop ofl red hair amongst the disorder. Screams resonated from the exterior of the city and were steadily getting louder, along with low tremors of the ground beneath their feet, which could only signal that the Titans were rapidly proceeding towards the center of the outlier district.

Realizing this, the Garrison soldier moved with greater urgency. They did not have much time left, and giant humanoid figures were beginning to become clearer through the smoke and wreckage, so he desperately searched for the boy whose life he had just narrowly saved from his own father, ' _Come on, Adler. Where are you?'_

As if to answer his silent plea, the crowd began thinning to his left, and Hannes finally caught sight of him, a small figure not too far away. The boy had slowed down to a limping stroll, and looked almost completely unaware of his surroundings. From the distance, Hannes was unable to tell whether or not the redhead's gray eyes looked unfocused, but he strongly suspected that the boy had suffered a concussion from his earlier fall.

The man began to _push_ through the panicking crowd to get to the boy, but a daunting outline of something in the corner of his eye made him stop dead in his tracks.

A medium sized titan had been shot by cannon fire, which had caused it to slam against a courthouse with great force, scattering the building into many rugged sections that flew with a dangerous velocity.

One of the beams was heading for the boy.

"Adler, move!" The man desperately bellowed out, hoping beyond hope that the boy would hear him through the terrified clamor around him and move in time-

The sickening sound of bones breaking completely destroyed those hopes.

Hannes could only watch on with soundless horror as a beam smashed against the child's small figure in a matter of seconds, taking down several other people with it into the icy depths of the moat below, a single splash beckoning the end of their lives.

For a brief moment, the blonde man couldn't comprehend what he had just seen. His hands trembled, and face remained pale, and his misty eyes gradually over-flooded with painful clarity.

It was doubtful that even a man would be able to survive a collision that lethal, let alone a child.

"No."

Nothing emerged to the surface, thus the beam had likely pinned the boy down to the bottom of the channel.

"No!" Hannes fell to his knees, the man's shoulders uncontrollably shaking. He was uncaring of the terrified people shoving their way passed him, the same people moving with the same herd mentality, moving as if nothing had changed.

Hannes stayed there for several moments enraptured in intense grief, apathetic of the murderous monsters around him. All he could think of was how he had just let an innocent child die, and how he'd broken his promise _,_

His fists shook. _'First Carla, and_ _now Adler? A child? You let them die. You're so pathetic.'_

— **()()()()—**

A blond boy stood on a soot-laden deck next to his grandfather, his cerulean eyes erratically searching for the desired familiar faces. Armin continued to silently curse himself for not going after his friends. Then, he would harshly remind himself that a hindrance like him would have probably just died along with them, if not making their deaths even more certain. Thankfully, even he had had the foresight to send someone more capable after them. Then, he could only hope that he had told Hannes quickly enough, and that the Garrison soldier would be able to return his friends in one piece.

"I see them!" He exclaimed with some renewed life once he saw Eren and Mikasa _finally_ board the boat, but his feeble smile subsequently disappeared when he saw dolent expressions on their dust-covered faces.

 _'Why aren't the Yeagers with them?'_ The boy wondered.

"Give them time." His grandfather wisely advised him. "They look like they've been through a lot."

Armin scrutinized the two from afar, then, with a crushing realization, his breath hitched and heart hammered, "Why . . . Why isn't Adler with them?"

— **()()()()—**

When the boat began to haul forward, there was still no sign of Hannes or Adler.

Eren, Armin, and Mikasa were seated near the cabin along with most others onboard, the Garrison officer in charge had told them it was to avoid being snatched up by the larger titans, and they had mindlessly obliged.

"I'm sorry." Armin shakily broke the silence, struggling to suppress his tears, "If I'd gone along with him-"

"Then, all of us would have been killed," Mikasa interjected, though devoid of all of her unshakable calm.

Armin closed his eyes shut, hugging his knees to his chest with shaking arms

"It isn't your fault, Armin." Eren finally spoke up, causing his friend to curiously glance up at him.

The other boy's tears had already been dried, and he stared ahead with a terrifying resolve, "It's their fault. And I'll make them pay."

— **()()()()—**

 **Three days later**

Far away from the breach in Shiganshina, a man could be seen sitting near the edge of a riverbank, underneath the shade of a large oak tree. He looked far younger than his his actual age, and with his fishing rod cast deep into the ambient waters before him, he looked like the perfect embodiment of detachment.

He would come here often. From underneath his hat, eyes with cold azure irises mundanely examined the peaceful tranquility around him, from the bluebirds chirping in the distance to the light mist that had formed over the water's surface. It almost seemed as if nothing could faze nature, he often mused.

News about Wall Maria had swept through fast, and the people in Wall Rose wasted no time in making room for the incoming refugees. Trost took the brunt of the fleeing Marians because of its immediate proximity to Shiganshina, not to say Krolva and the other outlier districts weren't adversely affected as well.

But the man didn't have his hopes up for the Marians. He suspected that the royals in Mitras would soon grow tired of the refugee's plight. After all, he'd worked with them in his time, and his shadowed eyes reflected that he was well-versed in the exact nature of the people he worked with.

 _'In the very least, this could be the wakeup call that we needed.'_ He wondered, staring idly into the somewhat tame rivulet.

Then, it _rippled_ , and the man's hands tensed as he felt his line catch something big. He methodically began to reel it in, but frowned at feeling of the line getting snagged on something. He had stood up to get a better look, and his eyes widened.

Wasting no time, he carelessly discarded the rod and plunged deep into the freezing waters of the river. Treading skillfully through the murky depths, he got hold of something vaguely soft. His head cut through the surface as he took in air, being careful not to lose his grip on the cold skin his hands were in contact with.

Having finally paddled to the bank, he swiftly got to his feet and pulled the person, no more than a boy, further up. The lack of movement was enough to make him flip the boy onto his back and immediately begin pumping his chest with purpose. After a few tense minutes, the boy finally coughed out water and began to breathe, and the man let out a breath of relief, collapsing down on his back.

After a moment of silently recollecting himself, he glanced at the deadly waters and saw his hat floating calmly on the surface with a small twinge of regret. Briefly glancing at the tauntingly peaceful blue sky, the man finally took in the sight of the person he had just saved.

"Red hair." The man muttered incredulously, "What are the odds?"

 **—()()()()—**

Waking up was a very _turbulent_ process, indeed, his mind having to constantly battle with the thoughtless darkness that seemed to love his company. Minute by minute, feeling slowly returned to his limbs, but with the return of sensation, came the inevitable, sporadic surges of _pain_ that racked through every bone in his small body.

The pain was the greatest he could ever remember feeling, enough to make the vagueness disappear and make him fully aware that he was laid out shirtless on a metal cot. Gasping slightly, he sharply tried to blink away the fogginess that had clouded his vision. With some struggle, he suppressed waves of anxiety that desperately wanted him to hyperventilate, and tried to take in his surroundings.

He was in a dimly lit room of some kind, with unmemorable furniture sparingly littered throughout it. But the more concerning part of it was that his entire upper body was buried under a thick blanket of bandages, and aching with a degree of brutality that no encounter from Eric could have ever rendered him.

"Calm down."

Gray eyes swiveled to the source of the incurious voice, its owner a dark-haired man who, with a blasé look, on his face was watching him impassively from a nearby armchair.

"Who-" His own voice sounded almost unrecognizably hoarse, which made him aware that his throat was ridiculously dry. The stranger appropriately handed him a glass of water, which he took whole keeping his cautious gaze on the stranger. The soothing cold liquid pouring down his throat and easing the sting succeeded in offering him some ounce of consolation, and it became minutely easier to breathe.

"You're very lucky, Adler." The man intoned, appearing thoughtful, "The very fact that you're even awake is quite surprising."

The redhead immediately stopped drinking and stared at the man in surprise, croaking, "How do you know my name? I don't recognize you."

"You were probably too young to remember." The youthful looking man conceded, "My name is Garren Dedrick. I was a good friend of your father's."

The mere mention of Eric replaced the boy's confusion with some emotion that was both tense and unreadable, and one he attempted to conceal by looking away. "I see," Garren murmured with a hint of disappointment, "so, Eric continued his descent into madness?"

Adler ignored this, instead focussing on talking well enough to be legible through well blanket of pain and fatigue that was still tightly wrapped around him, "Where am I?"

"You're in Krolva," Garren responded, "One of Rose' outlier districts."

Adler's eyes widened, he'd never even heard of such a place before, "How did I end up here?" He wondered outloud, "The last thing I remember is the Titans invading Shiganshina." He tried to suppress how feeble his voice sounded.

"Shiganshina? I found you in a river near the western mountains." The man stood up, his azure eyes drifting over the redhead's battered body as he quietly contemplated his case. "My guess is you were hit by something that was hard enough to throw you into one of the canals that fed off from the main river, and somehow, you managed to drift upstream till I found you."

"That's . . ." Adler trailed off. This was too much for him to take in, never mind that he was trying his best to stay alert despite the curtain of exhaustion that was slowly creeping up on him. On top of that, he was absolutely _filthy_ , to the point where it was difficult to ignore it.

"Hey," Garren easily regained his attention as he fluidly stood up, "Do you want something to eat?"

Adler paused to process the question. He didn't really feel hungry at the moment. "No thanks."

"I'll bring some anyway." Came the seamless reply, "You can eat in your own time."

 **—()()()()—**

"Something on your mind?"

Garren had asked Adler. Though a day had passed since the redhead regained consciousness, he was predictably still confined to the bed, his injuries preventing him from even attempting to walk without causing an embarrassing amount of pain and malfunction. He had suffered several broken ribs, a badly sprained leg, a concussion and many scattered contusions and lacerations that rendered the boy _very_ lucky that someone with considerable experience in the medical field like Garren had been the one to find him. In a world ruled by Titans, such inexcusable serendipity was unheard of.

Adler silently gazed at the man, disconcerted that a complete stranger could read him so easily. Deciding it was more beneficial to be honest this time, he conceded, "I'm wondering about my friends."

Garren nodded, impartially pointing out, "If they made it to the escape boats, they probably survived. If not, then I don't think I need to spell it out for you. You're the only person I caught with my fishing rod."

The two spent a moment in silence, and Adler couldn't help but scrutinize the lean man from the corner of his eye.

"Don't get me wrong," he started carefully, "I really appreciate what you've done for me. But who exactly are you?"

"I told you, kid," the man grunted, "I was a friend of your father's."

The redhead attempted to ignore the 'f-word' and elected instead to contemplate the present predicament. Despite not receiving the answer he wanted, Adler continued, "What happens when I've healed up?"

"I'd worry about getting better first."

It took a week for Adler to get mostly 'better', an impressive feat, considering he should have remained out of commission for at least a month. What was even more unusual was that Garren did not seem at all fazed by his abnormally quick recovery, when the boy himself was drawing blanks at it.

During the week the man had cared for him, Adler had managed to get somewhat less obscure answers from him.

Garren was a retired member of the Survey Corps who had been acquainted with the Kleins since before he was born but had a falling out with Eric shortly after his mother had gone missing. That was all he would really say about himself.

That suited Adler just fine, it wasn't one of his priorities to learn more about the man. Although he didn't show it, the events of the breach were greatly disquieting to him. Especially what his father had tried to do, the look in the man's eyes still lingered in his sleep, and the fact that he was confined to bed for a long week did not exactly help to alleviate his troubles.

Truth be told, neither did any of the present situation. Adler had been largely independent since the age of six. Having to suddenly gamble on someone else's help, a stranger no less felt extremely unnatural to him.

Which was why, about a week after he had found the half-dead boy floating in the river, Garren found him gingerly getting dressed up and ready to leave.

"You're leaving?" Unconcerned azure eyes regarded the boy's cinereal ones. "I probably shouldn't let you," he continued, "despite what you've told me."

While changing the boy's bandages, faded blue bruises and jagged scars that were far older than three days old had caught Garren's attention. His fears were confirmed when he managed to get some answers of his own from the boy. The redhead apparently had to largely fend for himself since his mother went missing and his father had spiraled into depression, which was why it just 'didn't feel right' to him to impede on Garren's 'kindness' any longer. The man sensed that there was a larger part of the story the kid wasn't telling him, but he didn't think to persist because much of it was painfully obvious.

Eric had physically abused his _own_ son.

How far his old friend had fallen truly surprised him. Yet, after the _thing_ they had seen in the woods, he felt he should have really expected it. Eric had never had a strong will.

Still, he couldn't deny the ounce of regret he felt, knowing the other man was probably dead.

He also didn't fail to notice how perceptible it was that Adler was almost nothing like his father, apart from appearance, that is. He had the same blood red hair and a darker shade of the same gray eyes, the combination of which he had yet to see on anyone else.

But in terms of idiosyncrasies, Adler was completely different from the older Klein. Where Eric had been loud, temperamental and ready to state his opinion in any possible matter, Adler was much more closed off, enigmatic and imperturbable, something that was very unusual in an individual his age. Then again, the boy's entire upbringing had been _unusual_.

"Mr. Garren," at the man's half arched eyebrow, Adler quickly started again, "err, _Garren_ , I really do appreciate all you've done for me, but I just can't stay here any longer."

After a long pause, Garren sighed soundlessly, walking in the general direction of the living room, "Don't be a moron. If you're going, at least take sufficient supplies with you."

Adler stared after him, silently conceding his point with some semblance of sheepishness.

The former Scout tossed him a black bag, which he promptly caught and curiously inspected. It had clothes, some food, an incredibly detailed map of Wall Rose and a good amount of money, in fact, the most he'd ever seen.

"Thank you." The words seemed alien coming out of his mouth. He had only ever said those words genuinely to three other people. He frowned at being reminded of them. He silently hoped they were still alive.

"Where will you even go?" Garren spoke, with the same degree of casualness one would use while discussing the weather.

"Trost." Came the short reply.

"The refugee camps probably won't take you in." The man pointed out. There had already been too many cases of freeloading peasants.

The boy simply nodded, "I know."

Garren saw the boy pull up his hood and carefully leave out the door with slightly furrowed brows, wondering if this was really the best decision. He hadn't failed to notice how carefully Adler would watch him when he changed the boy's bandages, or how he familiarized himself with his surroundings by asking every possible question about the architecture of Krolva, Trost and the adjoining districts. So the boy was a quick learner. Besides, it wasn't uncommon to see children living in the streets, especially since the breach. And Adler had seemed to feel uneasy living with him.

The man smiled morbidly when the realization hit, that he was just looking for excuses to justify his own immoral decision about a _child's_ safety. Admitting it, even to himself made him feel truly cowardly, for nothing in his years in the Survey Corps made him as terrified as what he'd seen _that_ day.

* * *

A/N: Any insight would be appreciated, what do you think of the new characters?


	3. Chapter 2

_**Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama, Wit Studio, Kodansha, and Funimation.**_

 **Sorry for the wait. Rest assured, this story will never be abandoned.**

 **—()()()()—** = Scene/perspective change.

 _Emphasis_

 _'Character thought.'_

* * *

 **Chapter 2:**

 ** _Rekindling_**

It took about three minutes for the seemingly disinterested Garren to precipitously curse under his breath, grab his coat and briskly follow the redhead out into the brumal breeze that racked through the Krolva suburbs.

The man knew that it would be difficult even for the likes of him to forgive himself if he let the boy go out on his own, especially since he was now well-informed about the kind of treatment Adler had received from his father.

A part of him knew that the kid's life would have probably been a little easier if he hadn't given up on his old friend so soon. But what he'd seen _that_ day, it had just been too much. Even for someone like him. He could barely keep _himself_ sane, what could he have done for Eric?

But Garren had never been an overly sentimental man. Guilt and remorse were not the driving factors that urged him to follow the boy, reason was.

Simply put, if he let Adler go out on his own, the boy wouldn't live very long. While the redhead may have survived mostly on his own in the streets of Shiganshina, the very fact that it was _Krolva_ where he was made the situation very different.

The climate was colder, the architecture was more archaic, it was less inhabited with large pockets of wilderness, bears were more common than people in certain sections and the place was a hotbed for drug addicts and thugs, especially since some lowlife had started illegally selling a new and addictive drug in the district. Combined, these factors ensured that the precautions he had prematurely rendered the boy just wouldn't be enough.

Ironically, all of these dangers had been the reasons Garren had chosen Krolva as the place to live in the first place. The former Scout had feared that a safer location would simply be too monotonous for someone like him.

Finally catching sight of the hooded redhead steadily walking down the path, the man subtly picked up the pace.

"Adler!"

The boy turned around, looking slightly puzzled, "Garren?"

"I'm afraid I can't let you go out on your own."

The boy visibly tensed, "I thought we-"

"You thought right." Interjected the tranquil reassertion.

Adler frowned at the cryptic remark. He was usually good at reading people, but this man was just _infuriatingly_ perplexing for him.

"Then why follow me?", he asked after a clipped silence.

"How do you plan on getting to Trost?"

Slightly irritated at the blatant change of subject, he coolly iterated, "By carriage. The money you gave me should be enough, and I can probably find a place to stay for a short while."

The man fixed him with a very unimpressed stare. "Do you honestly believe that someone like you can waltz between districts, undisturbed?"

Adler opened his mouth for a retort, but the sudden and unexpected realization that he was a kid, an easily exploitable and vulnerable(he grudgingly acknowledged) kid wandering in a place he was still very unfamiliar with, stopped him. _'He's right. What was I thinking?_ _'_ He silently cursed his apparent lack of foresight, _'wh_ _en did I get so . . . so impulsive?'_

"So," the drawling voice very unceremoniously cut through his self-flagellation. Azure eyes impassively gazed into his own, as Garren asserted, "Let me get you to Trost. Then, you can do whatever you want."

After a short pause, Adler sighed with a deadened resolve. "Okay."

 **—()()()()—**

 _Two Years Later_

You might think that losing the largest section of their homeland to the enemy would have been enough to rock people to their cores for a long time. That it would cause them to look in every direction before briskly walking through the streets, that with a lingering sense of paranoia, they would always look over their shoulders with a watchful eye to detect any possible sign of danger, that they would demand that the walls be fortified to the highest possible extent, that they would rally together to take _action_.

You would be dead wrong.

Just two short years after the Colossal Titan and Armoured Titan had broken through the mighty Wall Maria like child's play, humanity seemed to just _forget_ that a third of their stronghold had fluidly disappeared in the course of a _single day_. Of course, there had been the meddlesome reminder of that morbid reality that had persisted in the form of refugees in camps littering the outlier districts of Wall Rose.

That was, until a year ago, when the government had obtusely sanctioned the 'Territory Retrieval Operation', sending nearly two hundred and fifty thousand untrained civilians to their deaths, on the premise that they could somehow fight off the Titans with pitchforks and blunt swords, something that experienced soldiers with fully functional Omni-Directional-Mobility gear had consistently failed to accomplish for over sixty years.

Now that those pesky downers were gone, that problem was mostly solved, with only the easily ignorable orphan children being left behind. _Now_ , the people could soundly live out their lives as they had always done until just two years ago, before the breach.

' _What was so great about Wall Maria, anyway?', t_ hey would silently ask themselves. Sure, it may have had their primary farmland, but apart from that, it had only ever been a cesspool for poverty, institutional corruption, and plague. Perhaps, they boldly gathered, losing it had been as much of a blessing as a curse.

Thus, they were able to get away with living in their feeble fantasy of everything returning to 'normal' without much cause for concern.

Of course, they would rarely ever verbally voice their thoughts, they were too cowardly even for that, but anyone with eyes would have been blind not to see it. Hell, even a kid could.

In the beginning, when he was still soaked in bitterness from the deaths of his mother and his friend, it had absolutely disgusted Eren, regularly seeing these people go about their daily activities with a tangibly greater sense of ease month by month, slowly returning to living in the perpetual ignorant bliss that had never failed to irk him when he was younger. Now though, he finally understood.

Not all people were born with the capacity to be fighters. Most were born to be cowards.

But that was _okay_ , Eren reasoned because _he_ could fight _for_ them. He would join the Scouts and eradicate every single Titan that ever had the displeasure of crossing paths with him, a _thousand_ times over. He swore he would chip away at their image of invincibility until he tore right through it. He would pay them back.

Night had fallen, but Eren couldn't sleep. He was too anxious because in a few days he would finally begin training to become a Scout. Two days, then he would join the Corps and finally find out if he truly had what it took to be a soldier. A few more days and he would finally be free of the smothering charities of the makeshift orphanage he was currently stuck in.

He absently glanced to his right. Armin was fast asleep on the bunk bed next to his, Mikasa on the top bed as the orphanage did not have separate rooms for females, barely visible through the shadows cast across the small room.

No matter what he would say, they wouldn't be dissuaded from becoming soldiers with him.

With a sudden wave of sorrow, he was reminded that one person was missing. A friend he would never see again.

All because of the Titans.

The feeling was fleeting, quickly replaced by the _intoxicating_ innervation of murderous intent.

' _Just a few days,'_ he silently recited to himself.

Two more days, then he would be that much closer to severing a giant head.

But first, he had to partake in a seemingly more benign battle. The battle to sleep.

A battle he was slowly losing.

 _'I'm too worked up to sleep.'_ He eventually concluded. With a resigned sigh, Eren slowly slipped out of bed. If an hour of trying wasn't effective, then he probably needed to get some fresh air. Festering emotions and persistent memories weren't helping, either.

The brunette slipped on his shoes, wore his coat and left the small room as quietly as he could, not to wake up the others. Honestly, it wasn't even that late, just barely past midnight. They had decided to sleep early to become accustomed to the curfew that would inevitably be imposed upon them when they finally started.

Clearly, that plan had failed. At least, for him. Grumbling slightly, the boy continued and covertly departed from the small room.

— **()()()()—**

 _He was at its mercy, the brutal waters churned around him as they easily toyed with his prone form. He was utterly powerless against it, the merciless currents made a mockery out of his feeble attempts to struggle. His eyes were wide open, at least he thought they were, but he could see nothing beyond the blackness of the depths, feel nothing but the faint prickling of his unnaturally cold skin as it was torn apart._

 _He couldn't breathe. His trachea was_ dangerously _close to swelling taut, his lungs felt like lead, his heart felt like it was ready to burst under the pressure in his chest._

 _But none of that frightened him as much as the feeling of discombobulation. Where was he? How had he even gotten himself into this mess?_

 _Before he was even close to reorganizing his thoughts, the water around him suddenly surged with a renewed vigor, engulfing him_ _, and the boy struggled to keep holding his breath as his jaws were stretched to their breaking point and the water pushed itself down his throat-_

Dilated gray eyes sharply snapped open and Adler awoke with a gasp. He desperately took in his surroundings, shakily letting out a breath when he realized he was still in the dilapidated apartment he was staying in.

 _'Just a dream.'_ He slumped back down, beginning to sort his thoughts as he tried to get his heartbeat back under control, ' _They're becoming more frequent.'_

He started having them not long after the breach and drowning seemed to be a particularly recurring theme.

The irony wasn't lost on him. The river had saved him from meeting a forgettable end at Shiganshina, hadn't it? For some reason, the formerly ambient waters had now decided to plague his sleep.

 _'At least, it was just about drowning._ ' He closed his eyes, suppressing a shudder at the thought of the _other_ dreams.

After gaining some composure, he sighed and stood up. He could hear only silence, which meant that he probably hadn't woken up Garren, though it hardly mattered.

He knew from past experience that sleep would elude him for a while now, and it would be redundant to just lay around aimlessly, so he slipped on some shoes and silently headed towards the exit.

On the way out, he got a glimpse of Garren asleep on a blackwood armchair, his head resting precariously on an upraised fist, with only dark bangs visible from underneath his reed hat.

The vaguely familiar sight somehow calmed him a little. Despite staying with the man for the past few months, the former Scout never failed to confuse him. _'Why does he sleep with that hat? He barely even wears it when he's awake . . . '_

After bringing him to Trost, Garren had let him go out on his own as he had promised. As expected, the refugee camps would not allow the boy entry, although he had never asked them, knowing their strict regulations had been enough.

Yet, Adler had still managed to procure a job at the resident barley field, really the only work he could find, and the farmer let him stay in a shack he owned without paying rent in return for his services.

That was, until the Territory Retrieval Operation. With most of the refugees gone, the food shortage was not nearly as severe and farmers were no longer desperate enough to employ child laborers.

Luckily for Adler, Garren had conveniently owned a small settlement in the district. One thing led to another, and the redhead had little choice but to live with the, for lack of better term, weird man. The boy really was grateful, though relying so much on someone else was still not exactly something he looked forward to.

Yellow light from a number of torches dimly bled over the steps he was taking through the chilled night air.

It was not too late yet, but getting accustomed to sleeping early had seemed a good idea, especially since he planned on joining the military which would obviously include abiding by a strict curfew. Honestly, he had little choice in the matter. It had seemed like the only thing he could see himself stand to do.

Then, there was the issue of not seeing a trace of his old friends for the past few years. The possibility that they hadn't survived was steadily becoming more tangible.

But he was sure of one thing. If they _were_ still alive, the military would be the likeliest place they would end up. It had been Eren's dream to join the Scouts even before they had first met, and wherever Eren would go, the other two were most likely to follow.

Although, a part of him wondered if they really needed him or even if they still remembered him. After all, one of his father's favorite adjectives to describe him had been _'worthless'_. Despite himself, sometimes he couldn't help but wonder if remarks like that rang true. Especially after a dream like the one that had woken him.

A sudden and icy breeze rudely broke his morbid chain of thoughts and made him lament not wearing something on top of his shirt when he had left.

It was quite ironic that despite just having had a nightmare about _drowning_ , Adler found himself stopping and gazing at the large transport canal that cut straight through the district. Silver moonlight gleamed over the water's teal surface, needling into his eyes, almost as if taunting him.

Staring at the water from a certain distance was not a problem, but contemplating actually getting into it? The thought was enough to make him shiver. He frowned at the action, his distorted reflection mirroring him. Of all the things he could be scared of, _this_ was by far the most idiotic.

Yet for some reason, he couldn't look away.

 **—()()()()—**

Getting lost in the city wasn't really a problem for Eren. In the years he had spent in the outlier district, the brunette had become fairly well acquainted with the streets of Trost.

Glancing behind him, he was relieved that Mikasa hadn't woken up and followed him yet. The girl almost seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to him. It could get annoying _,_ especially when coupled with her protector-complex.

Eren peered at the sky. In Trost, it wasn't nearly as clear as it had been back in Shiganshina, but it was still a spectacular sight to behold on a relatively clear night.

Armin had once told him something interesting about the stars and, he struggled to recall the term in his sleep deprived state, constellations. Apparently, in the past, travelers had used them to ensure that they never lost their way. Now, they remained largely underutilized and ignored with the exception of the navigation division of the Scouting Legion.

For Eren, that was just another thing that the Titans had stolen.

Something discernable in the corner of his eyes caught his attention. It was a figure walking down a few streets. The darkness did not allow him to decipher who it was, but judging by the stature, it was definitely not an adult. It couldn't quite be a girl, either.

 _'Someone else's up?'_ Eren wondered, _'Could it be one of the other kids from the orphanage?'_

The figure stopped at the foot of one of the bridges that crossed over the main canal, apparently transfixed by the peaceful waters that flowed before him.

Deciding that he had nothing better to do, Eren steadily walked towards the other boy. Once within a couple dozen yards, he realized that it could not possibly be anyone he was already familiar with, no one he knew quite matched that slender build.

A number of large leaden wisps of clouds in the sky that had obstructed the moon's light seemed to gently move out of the way, allowing more light to illuminate the city.

Torquise eyes widened as Eren noticed that the figure had a shade of burgundy hair. It shouldn't have been a big deal, except he hadn't seen anyone with red hair since . . .

"Get a hold of yourself." Eren muttered to himself, continuing his trudge towards the person, "Anyone can have red hair."

Yet, it was hard for him not be affected by the seeming coincidence, and he subconsciously adopted a brisker pace.

"Hey!" Eren said once he thought he was within earshot. The stranger tensed at being addressed before slightly turning around.

"Can I do something for you?" Came the distracted question, his eyes still fixed on the seemingly uninteresting waterway.

"I was just wondering what someone could be doing up so late at night?" Eren said offhandedly. That voice had made him pause. Something was peculiar about it.

"I could ask you the same." The redhead pointed out, finally facing his company.

Eren's eyes widened to twice their size.

". . . Adler?" The brunette finally forced out the words, his teal eyes appearing suspiciously more molten.

"Eren?" Came the incredulous response with cinereal eyes squinting through the darkness to get a better look.

Adler tensed as he felt two arms suddenly wrap around him and a body press against his.

"Where have you been?"

Adler was unable to immediately respond to the barely audible question, instead choosing to hesitantly return the embrace. It felt weird. He had never hugged anyone apart from his mother, and that was years ago.

"You know," He finally responded, though his suddenly stinging eyes were annoyingly distracting, "around."

 **—()()()()—**

"I'm sorry about your mom." Adler quietly said.

"Yeah," Eren murmured, glancing sideways at the redhead, taking in every aspect of the other teen's appearance, "me too."

His friend surprisingly looked almost exactly the same as the last time he had seen him, with barely neat red hair that reached his eyebrows, and those same cloudy gray eyes. Although, the other teen seemed to have grown slightly taller than the brunette, something that slightly prickled at his pride despite himself.

After the shock had subsided, they had been talking for who knows how long. It was almost as if Adler hadn't been presumed dead for the past few years, and Eren had been filling him in on what had happened after his 'death' in a manner similar to any other mundane conversation. But they both knew that that was just wishful thinking.

It felt truly surreal to suddenly be able to talk to someone who you had believed to be dead for over two years. This was especially true in the brunette's case. While Adler had more or less expected Eren to be among the living, the same could not be said vice versa.

Although, there used to be a small part of Eren that had persisted to hope even after Hannes had mournfully told them the presumed fate of his friend. But this hope had died long ago. After all, it was foolish to think anyone could have survived what the Garrison soldier described. Especially in the cruel world, they live in.

Eren suddenly frowned, briefly getting over the high of being proven wrong. "You haven't mentioned it yet."

At the redhead's silent question, he continued, "All this time we thought you were dead. How are you still alive? Hannes told us that you were crushed by some debris and fell into the aqueduct."

 _'Wait, I did?'_ He subtly glanced at the innocuously flowing waters, _'That explains a lot.'_

Eren raised his brow in disbelief, "You don't remember?"

"Yeah." Adler admitted, initially unable to fully conceal his unease, "Just the Colossal Titan breaking through the wall. After that, my memory is all cloudy."

Before he could stop himself, Eren let out, "What about your dad?"

The redhead just looked blankly at him. He did remember _something_ , but to the best of his knowledge, Eren wasn't there. "What do you mean? You've never even met him."

Before Eren could get over his shock, they heard two more footsteps approaching from somewhere behind them.

"Do you hear that?" The other boy asked.

"Yeah." The redhead murmured.

"Eren, you aren't supposed to go out alone so late." Adler froze at the familiar voice.

It was Mikasa, ostensibly wide awake, with Armin faithfully following close behind her.

The amazingly, still scarf-clad girl squinted her eyes upon getting closer, still not quite near enough to see through the barely breached layer of darkness that surrounded them, "And who's that with you?"

For once, Eren was actually glad to see that his friend had ignored his warnings about coddling him.

"Guess who." He attempted to sound cheerful, glancing at his friend who seemed to have completely clammed up.

Armin frowned at the other teen's slightly tight voice.

"Eren, what are you-," the blonde's words caught in his throat when he got a better look.

Mikasa looked at him strangely, before she too scrutinized the boy in question.

Just when Adler found had his voice, he felt his breath getting knocked out of him and was nearly toppled off his feet.

When his eyes blinked open, he saw Mikasa with her arms tightly gripping his shoulders, and her face against his chest. From what he could see of them, her onyx eyes were brimming with emotion.

"You're alive." Armin hesitantly came closer with his blue eyes the widest and most emotive he had ever seen them.

Predictably, Adler was unable to come up with what to say.

 **—()()()()—**

"So, you're joining the military too?" Armin asked, still not fully able to conceal the tremor in his voice.

The past several minutes had been more . . . _absurd_ than he had anticipated when he had decided to help Mikasa find Eren, who'd wandered out alone in the middle of the night again. His friend had been doing so occasionally ever since they had registered for the 104th, and he strongly suspected it had something to do with joining the Corps, because Eren rarely ever left on his own when he had a nightmare about his mother.

Now, he was having a conversation with someone who had been dead for two years. Armin felt a lump forming in his throat again at the memory. Ever since he let Adler run off on his own during the breach, he had constantly blamed himself for the mistake that he considered had led to his friend's death. Now, though he could not let himself be completely exonerated, he still felt some of that weight being lifted.

"Yeah," Adler responded. "I can't really see myself doing anything else. And I figured it was the best way to find you guys."

"I guess that makes sense," Eren said after a short moment, not entirely thrilled that his long lost friend could also become a subject of worry.

"If you don't mind me asking, " Armin suddenly started, "How did you survive? Hannes told us-"

"Eren already told me." He quickly interjected, not failing to notice how the blonde's voice had started to quiver and not wanting it to escalate.

"He was about to tell me when you guys found us." Eren nodded.

"So what happened?" Mikasa asked, speaking for the first time.

Adler quickly sorted out his thoughts as much as he could before trying his best to put what had happened to him into words. By the time he was done, the other three were speechless.

"It's amazing that you survived that." Armin softly muttered, staring at the ground, "A collision like that should have been fatal."

"Remind me to thank this Garren guy," Eren said wearily.

"Does Hannes know?" Mikasa suddenly asked, appearing concerned. "He blamed himself for your 'death'."

"He actually does." The boy shifted a little at the memory. "I ran into him a couple of days ago. It was . . . pretty awkward." He added, almost too quietly to hear, "He cried."

"I'm interested to find out how that played out," Eren remarked, almost grinning at the thought of a scene like that. After all, the redhead wasn't exactly the _best_ when dealing with other people's emotions.

Adler noticed that the sky was now a soft lavender ebb, and that their surroundings were steadily becoming brighter.

"Hey, how long have we been out here?" He asked casually.

Armin immediately got his point, looking startled, "It's twilight, already?"

Mikasa was the first to stand up, "We should probably return to the orphanage before the matrons notice."

"If you could call it that," Eren muttered, before suppressing a sigh and following her example.

"So, you're staying with Garren, if I'm not mistaken?" Armin asked.

"Yeah."

Eren looked at Adler and muttered, "This better not be a dream. Otherwise, I'll be pissed off when I wake up."

"We wouldn't want that."

They murmured their goodbyes and reluctantly parted ways.

 **—()()()()—**

 _Two days_ _later_

"I do not welcome you warmly!" A tall, bald man in an intimidating leather trenchcoat yelled at a large group of uniformed teenagers dutifully standing by in an open ground. His short black beard looked as weathered as his face, and his shadowed eyes with charcoal colored irises reflected experiences that dared their wildest imaginations.

"At this stage, you're nothing but livestock!" He went on, showcase incredible skill in maintaining that same level of absurd lung power, "In fact, you're less than livestock!"

 _'So, that's Keith Shadis._ _'_ Adler offhandedly thought, as the bald man continued his rant. He had expected some veteran like Garren to be their instructor, not Shadis. It just seemed too contradictory to have a drill sergeant like that.

The only reason he could recognize the former Survey Corps commander was that Eren wouldn't shut up about him when they were younger. A sudden thought made him pause. _'Didn't he have hair?'_

"Over the next three years, you will be trained to face the Titans!" The Commandant declared. "In three years time, will you still be fodder for the Titans? Or will you be ready to take down your own Goliath?"

Adler inwardly sighed. _'He'll be fun.'_

* * *

 _Please review._


	4. Chapter 3

_**Attack on Titan belongs to Hajime Isayama, Kodansha, Wit Studio and Funimation.**_

A thank you from the writer to all who read, reviewed or followed this story.

 **—()()()()—** = Scene/Perspective change, Time-skip.

 _Emphasis._

 _'Character thought.'_

* * *

 **Chapter 3:**

 ** _The Easy Days_**

The sun had sunken to the edge of the azure horizon, its formerly energetic light now a tired shadow of its earlier self. Dull orange bled across the land, signalling that the first and rather underwhelming day of boot camp had finally come to an end.

After going through introductory training and being made familiar with their new schedules, the cadets were called to the mess hall for the customary meal of stale bread and bland soup, after which they were expected to finish settling down into their respective sleeping spaces.

In a table at the far end of the hall, disinterested cinereal eyes mundanely surveyed their surroundings, their owner was steadily drinking the bitter murk passed on as coffee around here. Still, Adler found that he couldn't resist anything that remotely tasted like coffee. It had always been a personal weakness of his.

Word that his friends had witnessed the fall of Shiganshina had spread like a plague, and Eren was currently the center of most of the other cadet's attention.

The redhead, wanting no part of the awed and overzealous, oversized children's questions, had discretely moved to a less occupied table a comfortable distance away, he didn't miss the half-amused look Armin had sent his way as he did so.

He knew that his friends wouldn't mind. Even back before the breach, he hadn't exactly been the best with people, only caring enough to deal with them when absolutely necessary.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, another reason he'd moved tables was that the details that Eren was providing them of what had happened had inwardly been making him anxious.

To deal with his growing boredom, the redhead was now playing a little game he had made up.

Matching a face with a name had never been difficult for him, but remembering the different names and faces of the almost two hundred cadets whom Shadis had humiliated would probably be more of a challenge.

That reminded him. For some reason, Shadis had ignored him. It wasn't hard to guess that the Commandant's intention by putting up a scary front was to shake these overconfident novices into reality, and Adler had pretty early on seen a clear pattern in the people he chose to skip.

Judging by the familiar look in their eyes and their more serious dispositions, they had experienced the fall of Wall Maria in some way.

 _'Then why pass me?'_ , he wondered. _'I don't even know what a normal titan looks like. Armin probably does, but he wasn't skipped.'_

"You seem to be mulling over something awfully hard."

The newcomer's unfamiliar, feminine voice succeeded in attracting his attention. He expressionlessly regarded the girl now smiling at him, probably waiting for a response. She had apparently decided to be friendly and strike up a conversation.

How _fortunate._

She had thick black hair neatly tied in a ponytail and large eyes with expressive gray irises. She had an innocuous air about her, and she reminded Adler of a non-oriental, non-jaded version of Mikasa.

Her name was easy for him to remember. She was the one who'd panicked in the face of Shadis' challenge and had shouted that she was worse than livestock to appease him.

"Mina from Calaneth, right?"

Her eyes widened a fraction. "You remember my name? That's pretty impressive."

The other teen glanced back at his formerly occupied table. "Anything you wanted?"

Mina seemed to be surprised by his lack of interest but quickly caught herself, apparently realizing that the boy wasn't very good with his people skills. Nonetheless, she admirably continued in the same amiable tone, "I was just wondering what your name was since the Commandant seemed to have skipped you."

"Adler."

"Oh," she smiled, exclaiming too cheerily, "nice to meet you, Adler!"

He stared at her. ' _What is her deal?'_

"Thanks."

Thankfully, the girl decided to stay silent this time.

Actually, the whole hall was silent.

Eren had broken into one of his speeches again. _'How typical.'_

"It's not like that!" The brunette exclaimed, "Titans aren't actually that big of a deal! Once we've mastered the ODM gear, they'll be nothing to us!"

The redhead was careful to not show his annoyance.

"Well, he's confident," Mina remarked, looking just as awed by the bravado as the others.

' _That's exactly the problem.'_

"We finally get to train as soldiers." Eren continued with a growing sense of self-assuredness. "I'm going to join the Survey Corps and drive the Titans out of this world! I'm going to slaughter—"

"Whoa, are you crazy or something?" A taller boy with ash-brown hair had interjected. Adler recalled that it was the same guy whom Shadis had head-butted after the former had voiced his ambition to join the Military Police.

"Not that it's any of my business, but joining reconnaissance is like a death sentence." He remarked, a careless smile plastered on his face.

"I guess we'll see. Or at least, _I'll_ see." Eren coolly retorted. "You seem content to hide in the interior."

Adler frowned imperceptibly. He didn't like the phrasing of that.

To Jean's credit, he looked completely unruffled. "I'm just being honest, kid. At least, I'm not trying to be some tough-guy-wannabe who wants to pretend he isn't as scared as the rest of us."

His chair screeched as Eren stood up. "Are you trying to start a fight?"

After a brief pause, Jean stood up to meet the challenge with the same air of arrogance. "Alright. It doesn't matter."

All eyes were trained on them as they walked to the center of the hall, each daring the other to make a move.

"Shouldn't someone stop them?" Mina asked, her nervousness tangible as she glanced from one to the other.

"They aren't children anymore," Adler said flatly. "They fight their own battles. They'll have to learn that, sooner or later."

He pretended not to notice her curious stare.

Much to Mina's relief, the bell sounded off before things could escalate.

"Hey, I apologize." Jean said to Eren, after letting out a resigned sigh, "I'm sorry for calling you names and dismissing your choice of career."

"It's okay," Eren responded, although he didn't look too sincere. "I was a bit too eager to pick a fight, myself."

"Sure, let's forget about it and be friends, okay?" The taller teen held out his hand, his smile turning placating.

"Yeah," Eren slapped the other's hand in a vaguely friendly manner, before starting towards the door.

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Mina remarked, sounding almost let down as she saw the brunette leave.

"I thought you didn't want to see them fight." The redhead muttered.

Familiar blue eyes made contact with his own and the redhead promptly stood up and followed Armin out the door, careful to be tact enough to verbalize a brief goodbye to the stunned Mina.

 **—()()()()—**

Pretty soon, the two were walking in step with Eren and Mikasa outside the dining hall. The sun had departed from the sky, and only the glare of several oil lamps made visibility comfortable on the footpath.

"You could have been nicer to her, you know," Armin said, in a slightly chastising manner.

"Uh-hmm."

The blonde suppressed a sigh at his friend's disregard for tactfulness.

"It's a good thing Mikasa stopped you." Adler remarked to Eren, "That guy is almost as hotheaded as you."

"Oh yeah?" Eren responded coolly with a straight face, a hint of amusement slipping through, "Don't pretend we didn't see you with . . . Mina, was it? Pretty interesting."

He didn't take the bait.

"She was the one to make conversation."

"How bad for her."

"Yeah," he agreed.

— **()()()()—**

He couldn't sleep, and it wasn't because of the caffeine.

The nightmares had increased to the point that they occurred every other day. Adler was just glad he didn't loudly wake up from them like he thought most people did. That would be quite an unpleasant ordeal for him, especially since he now shared a sleeping space with dozens of other people.

No, he just opened his eyes at a certain point during the night and was unable to fall back asleep, no matter how tired he may be. He briefly wondered if he was developing insomnia.

A few moments later, and he found himself steadily walking down a path outside the cabin. Sneaking out unnoticed had been child's play to him. Of course, it helped that his bed was on the outside of the bunk so he didn't have to crawl over anyone as he climbed down. This time, he _did_ remember to wear something to protect himself from the cold.

The thick cloud cover prevented the moon and stars from doing their job and weakening the darkness, so it was a little difficult for him to see, but it wasn't unmanageable.

Now that he thought about it, he had spent many nights sleeping outside when he was little, and his father had been in a _particularly_ bad mood.

Thinking of his father. Having read some books about short-term amnesia, Adler was aware that the more detailed memories about the breach that were missing would probably come back to him, with time.

These latest dreams, in particular, had made him remember a very crucial detail about _that_ day.

Simply put, Eric had tried to kill him and Eren _was_ present to see it, as was Mikasa. He wondered why his friends hadn't questioned him about that yet, though he was grateful for their tact. It wasn't exactly a subject he was willing to let them broach.

A sudden noise made him crouch down. It was faint, but he could hear footsteps on the dirt path, and he could see the faint glow of an oil lamp cut through the curtain of darkness. He had no intention of being spotted. Being seen so late out after curfew was bound to have many unwanted consequences for him, which he wasn't very keen to get to know.

Upon closely scrutinizing the figure, he easily discerned who it was. There was only one bald man as tall and menacing as the one trudging down the hill. Besides, who else wore a trenchcoat?

' _What could he be doing out so late?_ ' He wondered, completely self-aware of his hypocrisy.

The man _did_ have heavy shadows under his eyes, so it would be no bombshell to find out that he had insomnia. But Shadis walked with a sense of purpose, which was what really intrigued Adler enough to follow him.

Stalking wasn't too difficult for him. It wasn't too different from just hiding from someone else, which he had ample experience with. He managed to tail the man without being detected to a large training field, which was dotted with large wooden tripods with steel hooks.

' _Aptitude training."_ He surmised. Upon being prompted, Garren had briefly described it to him.

Cadets were meant to balance themselves while being strapped to the belts by their uniforms and were lifted some feet off the ground. If they failed to stay still for an undisclosed number of seconds after two days of trying, they were shipped to the fields without another word.

Adler watched with interest as the Commandant approached a station, swiftly exchanging a belt in a wooden box with one which he had been carrying in his trenchcoat.

Shadis was quick to walk away. Once his footsteps were out of earshot, and his figure was small against the horizon, Adler allowed himself to come out and prod.

' _A broken clasp?'_ He frowned at the dented metal held in his fist. ' _How do you even break that?'_

Deciding he had nothing better to do but try it out himself, he used his arms to lift himself up and hold himself in place, which was decidedly more difficult than using the specially made attire, _specifically_ designed for this purpose.

It felt refreshing to do something stupid for once.

Of course, he fell on his face, hard.

It took him a few moments to blink the stars out of his eyes. His head was probably one of his biggest weak spots, in hindsight, subjecting it to that kind of abuse was probably not smart.

' _There's no way someone could stay like that for more than a few seconds.'_ Obviously, Shadis had something in mind by sabotaging one of his own cadets. He _was_ a former Scout Commander, surely he was aware of the complete counter-productiveness of what he'd just done?

Adler clenched his fist around the strap, pondering about how to react. Perhaps, this was supposed to be an unmanned station? In that case, there was nothing wrong with what the instructor had done.

Another thought came to mind. What if this was a test for someone? Shadis didn't strike him as the kind of person to do that, but he _had_ only just met the man. He really wasn't an authority to say that the Commandant didn't want to test a cadet's mettle in such a manner.

It was also just as likely that he wanted to discourage someone from pursuing something that could endanger them, though he didn't come off as the unconditionally caring type. Perhaps, a relative? Or, the child of a friend? In fact, it was far more likely than Shadis just holding some kind of petty grudge against someone.

In the case of the former scenario, sabotaging someone by breaking an infamously unbreakable part of the gear was a surefire way to ensure that that person would show their willpower, and train harder in order to compensate for their apparent lack of talent.

 _'Either way, there's no harm in waiting.'_

If Shadis really did try to fail someone unfairly, all he had to do was suggest a change of equipment.

He would decide what to do with Shadis, later.

— **()()()()—**

Adler managed to return to the dormitories just before the wakeup call. The sun had finally risen and permeated the night with a faint glow, allowing him to navigate back to the cabin, much quicker than it had taken him to sneak out. Nobody questioned why he was already awake a few minutes before the bell rang. The worst he got was subtle stares from some of the others when they thought he wouldn't notice.

 _'Am I really that off-putting?'_ , he found himself contemplating. _'Maybe, I could be a bit more subtle.'_

Pretty soon, they were ordered to return to the dining halls to have their meals. It wasn't advised to eat a meal too heavy, and nobody had to take a gander as to why.

"You know," Mina remarked uncertainly, watching with a slight grimace as Adler casually downed his third cup of coffee without having taken a single bite of food, "You'll get sick if you drink so much."

The redhead didn't deign to give her an answer. _'You aren't the one who has to deal with three hours of sleep.'_

"Don't bother," Armin remarked with a slightly nostalgic smile, making her glance curiously at him. "He's always been like this." The smile shrank with the next words. "Although, this is a bit much. Even by his standards."

"Wait." Mina started, "You two know each other?"

"All four of us, actually." The blonde replied, knowing that she knew he meant Eren and Mikasa.

Before she could respond, Adler stated, "I lived in Trost after the breach, but I used to live in Shiganshina once, too."

Not long after the meals ended, they were ordered to dress into their specialized attire in the changing rooms, and then subsequently traveled to the same training field that Adler had followed Shadis into last night

"Just strap the ropes to the belts around your waist and torso," Shadis instructed them, "Then balance yourselves for a minimum of five seconds!"

The Commandant then bellowed out, his strong voice easily carrying over the ground that was large enough to accommodate all of the cadets of the 104th, "It's crucial that you can perform! Fail to keep yourself up and be shipped to the fields!"

Balancing himself on the tripods was surprisingly easy for Adler. He just had to make sure that his weight was evenly spread out, and apply an equal force to counter the one pulling him down. The redhead insisted to himself that it had nothing to do with the earlier acquaintance of his face with the ground.

Adler heard two men remark something about him as they passed by, but couldn't care less about what they could have been saying.

He was able to stay upright for seven seconds, second only to Mikasa's eight. _'At least, it's clear that I don't have the broken gear.'_ he mused, his eyes flitting across the field to see if anyone else was having any trouble.

The stations hadn't been assigned to their occupants until just before the exercise itself, so it had been impossible to know who would get the faulty gear beforehand.

To his confusion, everyone seemed to be doing fairly well.

The well-built blonde, Reiner, his even taller friend Bertolt and Annie Leonhart did especially well, while Sasha Braus, Jean, and Connie didn't do too badly, either. Armin initially had some difficulty balancing himself, but quickly thought of a way around it.

A sharp cry of pain abruptly drew his attention, followed by the Commandant's shout, "What's wrong, Yeager!? Straighten yourself up!"

The brunette tried again, only to harshly connect with the ground a second time.

Just when Adler was about to speak up, Shadis' golden eyes glared directly into his own.

To the man's surprise, the redhead just quietly removed himself from his station and calmly walked over to him.

"Excuse me, Commandant!" He calmly called out, successfully attracting the attention of the nearest cadets. Unfettered by the man's threatening stare, he evenly asked, "Could the equipment be faulty?"

"It's already been checked over," Shadis growled back.

"What about the belts?"

The bald man stared him down for a few ticks. When the boy didn't show any sign of being intimidated, he let out a silent sigh.

Shadis turned back to the baffled brunette who had finally managed to untangle himself from the ropes. "Yeager, exchange your belts with Klein."

Slightly surprised that Shadis already knew his name despite never asking for an introduction, Adler swiftly did as asked, unhooking his belts from their straps and handing them over to Eren, who had already removed his own.

After being properly prepped, Eren was quickly strapped back to his station and lifted off the ground. Only this time, the teen's head didn't threaten to dent itself against the hard dirt ground. Much to his own relief, and the surprise of almost everyone watching, Eren managed to stay upright for seven seconds straight.

"A broken clasp," Shadis announced, holding out the shining piece of metal so it could be seen by everyone clearly. "I didn't know this piece could be broken. Looks like I'll have to bust some skulls in the supply depots."

"So I pass?" Eren asked desperately, despite the answer being very obvious.

"You made the cut." The instructor confirmed and a relieved expression crossed the teen's face.

"Adler," Armin grabbed the redhead's shoulder to get his attention. He was looking at him curiously. "How did you know the clasp was broken? That part has a reputation of never breaking."

"Call it intuition." He replied, knowing that the blonde would see through the lie, but knowing that he wouldn't question him further.

Adler didn't have the patience to play along with Shadis' ploy. At best, it would have given Eren a day of dedicated training, if it was indeed some kind of test. Such training wasn't exactly invaluable to the brunette's success. Plus, if he _did_ manage to keep from falling for any period of time with the broken clasp, it would just inflate his already massive ego.

Overall, it wasn't worth it. And judging by Shadis' mildly annoyed expression, the instructor wasn't _too_ pissed off at him.

 _'Good.'_ He mused. _'At least, I don't have to worry about a salty instructor down my neck.'_

— **()()()()—**

 _Age 850_

By the time Keith Shadis finally retired from his position as the Commander of the Scouting Legion and handed the reigns over to Erwin Smith, he had already tasted defeat an absurd amount of times. He'd seen many of his men meet their ends at the hands of the Titans. Some deaths were less noble than others, others were downright idiotic and easily avoidable.

All of them had a profound impact on the former Scouting Legion Commander. It was that level of stress that had helped him to lose his full head of hair by his mid-forties. The realization that he had been hampering humanity's progress for many years had truly been a crushing blow.

Of course, the public wasn't one to miss out on the fun. Especially since the relatively young Smith's innovations had an almost immediate impact after their introductions. Shadis was glad he had vouched for him as his successor. If anyone could revive the Survey Corps after his abysmal failures, it was Erwin.

To him, it wasn't relevant that his legacy would be defined by his spectacular failures instead of his sizable contributions to humanity's cause, because Shadis had a personal debt to pay.

Which he was currently in the process of doing so.

"Pick up the pace, you lead-footed laggards!" His booming voice easily cut through the pelting rain that hammered against the backs of the jogging teenagers. Thunder bellowed above them and the storm continued.

Armin trailed a good distance behind the main group. His body wracked with fatigue as he struggled to keep up with the others under the heavy load on his back.

"What's wrong with you, Arlert!?" The instructor shouted, suddenly looming over the blonde, astride on a stallion, "You're trailing behind! In a hurry to become Titan food?"

As soon as Shadis trotted his horse back to the front, Reiner had slowed down to match Armin's pace.

"Give it here." Without unceremoniously snatched away the other blonde's load.

"You'll get points marked off!" Armin whispered back.

"Then, do me a favor and pass! Don't make me change my mind!" Reiner shouted back, ostensibly forgoing subtlety.

Unbeknownst to both of them, Shadis had been within earshot all throughout their brief exchange but had chosen not to chastise them. To the contrary, Reiner's show of empathy, which didn't harm the object of the exercise, might actually help _raise_ his final grade.

 _'Reiner_ _Braun_.' The Commandant silently began his evaluation of the top cadets. ' _Possesses_ _the strong physique of an ox. He has_ _extreme_ _mental_ _fortitude_ , _and an all round easy to trust comrade for his_ _teammates."_

"I will not be a burden!"

The barely audible shout had resonated from within Armin who, with an unexpected burst of resolve, quickly caught up to Reiner, managed to retrieve his backpack from him and actually sprinted to the front of the group.

 _'_ _Armin Arlert,'_ Shadis considered, _'b_ _uilt like a daffodil, but his remarkable aptitude for the classroom is unmatched.'_

Further up the trail, in time they reached a decent sized forest which looked very menacing under the miles of thunderclouds that loomed over it, although the barrage of heavy rain had finally deigned to cease. Swiftly depositing their backpacks at the checkpoint, the cadets quickly attached their ODM gears and propelled into the mass of enormous trees.

Deeper within it, lifesized dummies in the likeness of Titans were being raised. Shadis had almost had an aneurysm upon first seeing them. If those pathetic cardboard cutouts were supposed to mimic the terror of a titan, then Dot Pixis had surely gone sober. Of course, since then, Shadis had seen to it that acceptable improvements were made to make them slightly less pathetic.

Three figures sliced through the backs of the necks of their respective dummies, the cuts of their blades succinct and accurate.

 _'Annie_ _Leonhart_. _'_ Shadis glanced at the petite blonde, ' _Her_ _attacks_ _are_ _flawless_ , _but_ _her_ _reclusive_ _habits_ _hurt_ _her_ _teamwork and compromise her overall reliability_.'

He made notes of the other two.

 _'Bertolt_ _Hoover_.' The tall teen landed on a nearby tree, _'_ _He has_ _great_ _potential_ _but_ _lacks_ _the required_ _assertiveness.'_

 _'Jean_ _Kirstein_.' Jean weaved through the trees with minimal effort, showcasing his incredible affinity for the maneuvering gear. _'Top t_ _ier_ _OD_ _M_ _skills_ , _but_ _his_ _volatile_ _personality_ _causes_ _friction_ _with_ _the_ _others_.'

Shadis knew that the brunette's abilities would just be allowed to deteriorate if he allowed himself to opt for the Military Police upon graduating like he'd claimed he intended.

This system had always irked the instructor, though he knew that by limiting the number of cadets eligible for the MP to the top ten, a lot more would be forced to opt for the needier regiments. Unfortunately, this also meant that most of the top ten cadets almost always opted to work in the interior, where their skills gradually became obsolete, thus depriving Humanity of her finest soldiers.

It also made the Military Police, already the largest regiment, look obnoxiously overpowered.

Just as Jean caught sight of a target and prepared to strike, someone else sped ahead of him.

"Thanks for the help, Jean!" Connie hollered, rapidly descending upon the dummy, "I knew that following you was a good idea-"

Only to be overtaken by Sasha, who took the opportunity to finally put the dummy out of its misery.

"Hooray!" The girl bounced on her ropes.

 _'Sasha Braus_ , _She has spot-on instincts, but rarely ever shares them with her teammates.'_ Shadis noted.

 _'Connie Springer.'_ He glanced at the indignantly ranting male, _'_ _He excels at making quick turns, but a few sandwiches shy of a picnic.'_

In another section of the woods, Shadis witnessed Mikasa deliver clean strikes to the necks of two targets in quick succession to each other, barely making any noise at all. Her thorough slashes were followed by Eren's, but his weren't quite as deep as the girl's.

 _'Mikasa Ackerman_.' It wasn't difficult to evaluate this one, _'_ _Highly proficient in every area. It's apt to say that she's an unprecedented genius._ _'_

 _'_ _Eren Yeager._ _'_ The instructor noted with a swell of respect, _'Boasts no specific specialty but continues to improve with unparalleled effort. His terrifying resolve completely dwarfs everyone else's.'_

A glimpse of red hair against the gray sky made him gaze to his right, where two more dummies were being raised. Showcasing incredible speed and control, Adler cleanly cut through the nape of one target, using his momentum from the strike to swiftly slice the other.

Keith's eyes narrowed at the boy. _'Adler Klein. The strangest of the bunch.'_ He silently watched as the redhead quickly shot towards another part of the forest. _'_ _Physically speaking, he's deceptively strong. He's exceptional at improvising with the maneuvering gear, conserving gas and blades, and is a good strategist. He also has a talent for hand to hand combat, but he also seems to be lacking in all other categories.'_

The teen lacked almost all necessary leadership qualities. He was highly unsociable, almost cynically so. He seemed to be devoid of all charisma and was, at times, unreasonably reckless. He also had an almost crippling fear of large bodies of _water_ of all things and was thus unable to ever learn how to swim.

 _'And yet,'_ Shadis frowned, _'he seems to carry a quiet air of dense self-assuredness about him. He seems content with being totally self-reliant. He doesn't seem to see the necessity of asking for help during team missions. It's high time I knock him off of his high horse.'_

 **—()()()()—**

Despite his still existing rivalry with Eren, the animosity between the two hadn't prevented Jean from getting along surprisingly well with Adler, as he also did with Armin.

The redhead seemed to be the exact opposite of his obnoxiously impulsive friend. Where one was quick to react with anger to any kind of provocation, nothing seemed to faze the other. Where one was quick to voice his goal to _'eradicate all titans'_ every chance he got, Adler had yet to even state his own ambition. One claimed that Jean's face looked like a horse's, while the other had never insulted him so personally. Unlike _someone_ , Adler was at least _tolerable._

All things considered, Jean only had one complaint about the redhead. The idiot didn't know how to hold back during spars.

Or he didn't care enough.

Probably both.

The thought flitted through his mind in a millisecond, before he was effortlessly stopped in his tracks, lifted off the ground and his skull harshly slammed against the dirt.

"Damn it!" The brunette cursed, rubbing the back of his head. He was damn past caring that his wooden knife was now in the hand of his opponent.

"Sorry." Despite his chagrin, he took the offered hand.

"We don't even have to take this kind of training seriously!" The brunette blinked blearily. "Are you _trying_ to give me a concussion?"

The other teen shrugged. "It's not my fault you've been slacking off so much."

 _'You know what?'_ Jean took back everything nice he had ever thought about the redhead.

"It's not _my_ fault you're such a freak of nature." He muttered, parodying the other's voice.

Adler sighed, smart-aleckly, "What can you do? Life's unfair."

Just when Jean considered going for a cheap shot, the instructor's penetrating voice boomed across the field to them.

"Klein! Leonhart! Get over here!"

Without so much as a glance to the startled brunette, Adler began walking towards Shadis. To his right, he noticed Annie doing the same, and leaving behind an upside down Reiner and a dumbfounded Eren in her wake.

The redhead put his guard up, as he always did when around her. Anyone who could match Mikasa Ackerman in hand to hand combat was enough to make him anxious.

Most of the other cadets had paused in their 'training' and were now watching them. Surprisingly, Shadis didn't shout at them to return to work.

 _'Public humiliation?'_ Adler mused. He supposed he _had_ been getting on Shadis' nerves lately with all his sass.

Once they were within a few yards of the Commandant, they stopped and stiffly saluted.

Shadis regarded them both expressionlessly, with his hands formally clasped behind his back. "The two of you are at the top of the class in regards to this type of training." He remarked, "Now, you two will face off against each other to make my decision about choosing the best, easier."

The two of them nodded, subsequently creating the necessary distance between them. The cadets around them were now completely silent as the tension in the air became palpable.

"I'll be the rogue," Adler announced to the girl, seeing that he still had Jean's wooden blade in his grasp.

"Fine," Annie responded nonchalantly, raising up her fists and placing her right foot back in a familiar stance. "Do what you want."

"She's going to destroy him!" He heard someone exclaim, to his marginal annoyance. He really couldn't blame them. After seeing the wrath of the Eren mob the first few days, he had made it a point not to stand out too much on the field, only performing wholeheartedly when he knew that it wouldn't be noticed by his more obscure peers.

 _'So much for that.'_ He sighed.

Without warning, the teen charged at the blonde girl with his mock weapon aimed at her abdomen. He noticed her right leg tense almost too late, and barely managed to move out of the trajectory of Annie's kick, but she wasn't willing to give him any breathing room.

She closed in on him and aimed several, incredibly strong kidney shots, though he managed to deflect all of them, he could barely still keep the weapon in his grip while doing so.

Seeing an opening, Adler went on the offensive, feinting a kick to her right shoulder, and aiming an elbow at her head when she dodged to the left. Unfortunately, Annie didn't fall for the trick.

 _'Damn it.'_ he cursed as she continued to easily dodge his own rapid punches and a subsequent roundhouse kick, ducking underneath it to deliver a palm strike to his chest, knocking him out of breath. By this point, the mock weapon in his hand was really just a liability.

"It looks like they're evenly matched," Eren muttered, his turquoise eyes wide with amazement as the intensity of the battle began to form a small dust cloud around the pair.

Next, to him, Reiner held a much more calculating demeanor.

"Really?" Connie asked, barely concealing his own awed excitement, "I could have sworn that Annie was winning."

 _'She is._ ' Armin realized, closely watching the two trade blows. While neither had yet dealt a major blow, Annie's much smaller size meant that most of the other's tricks wouldn't work against her. It was Adler who was being pressured, not Annie. Despite the redhead's speed, he couldn't go on the offensive without leaving himself wide open for her attacks.

Annie deflected yet another punch, paying him back with a powerful kick to his head. Although he'd managed to block it with a raised elbow, the force was strong enough to send his weapon flying far out of his reach.

Annie was quick to take advantage of his momentary surprise, swiftly closing in on him and ramming his right leg with a blindingly fast kick, hard enough that a sickening crunch resounded across the already unnaturally silent field.

Eren winced as Adler audibly grunted and fell to one knee, clutching his right appendage in pain. The brunette unconsciously rubbed his own still sore leg, and from the sound of it, Annie hadn't been holding back as much this time.

To their surprise, Annie didn't immediately try to retrieve the knife to secure her victory.

"What is she doing?" Mina exclaimed, watching as the short blonde gracefully raised her leg straight above her crouching opponent's neck.

"Is she going for an axe kick?" Connie cried out, "Is she insane!?"

"Is she really going to risk breaking his neck?" Jean asked, with poorly concealed nervousness.

"I don't get it, " Eren uttered, getting more heated with every word, "All she has to do is grab the weapon, and she wins! Why the hell is she still on the attack?"

"She has to turn her back to him, Eren. The weapon is a good number of feet away, and there's a good chance he could recover in that time." Armin quietly responded, "She's decided not to take the risk. She's probably going to knock him unconscious."

Annie powerfully brought down her leg to her target, only for it to connect with nothing.

Much to their shock, Adler had managed to move out of the way just quickly enough to avoid the blow, he abruptly grabbed the startled girl's leg and roughly tossed her to the ground several feet away from him, gritting his teeth as he rigidly righted himself back up.

But Annie was quick to return to her own feet, quicker than Adler could have hoped to retrieve his 'weapon' in his current state.

Annie glared defiantly at her opponent, the right side of her face now bore the noticeable beginnings of a bruise from where her face had collided with the ground.

Eren swallowed. _'She looks pissed.'_

Adler, for his part, appeared to be completely calm, despite being much more roughed up than the girl. But his eyes now held a strange glint about them, which hadn't been there before.

"Alright, that's enough!" Shadis announced, so abruptly that it made almost every spectator jump.

"Both of you have shown your prowess." The man went on with a slight scoff. "More importantly, _both_ of you were taken down. So, I'll count this one as a tie. I'll have to evaluate you based on other factors."

He finally faced the still starstruck cadets around them. "Well, this isn't a betting ring! Get back to work!"

 **—()()()()—**

Adler watched the girl across from him with a lingering feeling of unease. Unlike him, Annie was content to show _everyone_ just _how_ ruffled she really was. If looks could kill, he'd be pretty dead.

From the baleful expression on her face that sent chills down his spine, he almost thought she was going to attack again.

But the blonde predictably schooled her features back into a nonchalant mask, and began to sedately walk away. "So be it. It doesn't count for the final grades, anyway."

The boy breathed out, a light breeze grazing his face revealed that he'd been sweating.

A hand suddenly on his shoulder almost made him jump.

"That was pretty badass, man!" Connie obliviously beamed at him, "You just went toe to toe with _Annie,_ of all people!"

"Thanks." He blankly responded.

"Does your leg still hurt?" Mina suddenly asked, looking concerned. He realized that her, Armin and Eren had also walked over to him, and others were also coming over.

"It's fine." He dismissed with blasé, steadily beginning to walk away. "It'll bruise, but that's the extent of it."

Eren oddly scrutinized him. "Hey, where are you going?"

"I'll see you later."

"What's his deal?" Connie muttered, watching his classmate walk away.

"Well, he's pretty prideful." Mina offered, though she appeared just as taken aback as him. "He's probably just mad that he couldn't win, for once."

Armin exchanged a significant look with Eren. They both knew that it was more than just pettiness.

The last time they'd seen him that fazed, the Titans had invaded Shiganshina.

On the other side of the training grounds, once he was sure that he was out of sight, Adler sank back against a wall, suddenly aware of the burning sensation in his right leg.

But the pain in his leg or the sting of his bruises was the least on his mind.

"Get a hold of yourself." He muttered to himself, trying to get his breathing back under control. His heartbeat would likely take longer to calm down.

 _'That_ _look_.' He narrowed his eyes. The look in Annie's eyes had been too reminiscent to him for comfort. So full of anger and contempt, all channelled towards him.

It was like a gentler version of his father's hooded, metallic eyes whenever Eric had looked at him.

With a sigh, the redhead straightened himself up. _'Time to get back before someone gets too curious.'_

 **—()()()()—**

Pretty soon, everyone had changed into their civilian garments and were gathered in the dining hall for meal time. The scene was one that had become familiar to all of them in the three years they'd spent together. Some were seen quietly talking with friends, having already finished their meals. Others were silently listening, adding a remark or two whenever appropriate. Usually, Adler would be of the latter variety. This day, however, he was neither.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Mina asked him again, a small frown forming on her face. "You're even quieter than usual, today."

"Really?" The other teen asked rhetorically, sipping his coffee, "Well, you're awfully loud today. But I guess that's no anomaly." His tone had no real bite to it.

"Good." She sighed dramatically. "I thought Annie's hit had impaired your ability to speak, or something."

Adler just raised his brow. "Speech is controlled by the brain."

"She hit my leg." He deadpanned. "My brain isn't in my leg, Mina."

"You should really be paying more attention to biology in class." He added, heedless of her flustered expression.

Armin chuckled as he watched them continue their antics, Mina attempting to verbally outwit Adler, and always tasting defeat for all her trouble.

Not long after he'd seen them talking on the first day of training, Mina had started to join their table during mealtimes. It'd been a little impromptu, but he, Eren and Mikasa hadn't really minded her company and soon, she became a friend to all of them. Like Reiner, Marco, Connie, Sasha, and Krista, she was a touch closer to them than the others.

Although, she seemed to be particularly interested in Adler. The blonde would often see her within a certain distance of the socially inept redhead. When he'd mentioned it to Adler, the other boy had just dismissed it as a mere triviality.

He hadn't mentioned it to him again.

Armin frowned slightly as he subtly scrutinized his once, long-lost friend.

When they had first reunited, and a few weeks into their training, Adler had seemed like the exact same person they had known growing up in Shiganshina. He was quiet by nature, cordial with strangers and mildly sarcastic with his friends.

Eren and Armin treated him the same way as they always had, but then, the blonde had the formerly nonexistent barrier that had now been erected between them.

Adler had always hid his darkest demons away from them, but now, he had become a master of the art. The exact opposite of Eren and Armin, who both wore their hearts on their sleeves. Even the infamously nonchalant Mikasa had become easier to read than the redhead, at times.

There was the fact that none of the boys had ever seen Adler shirtless, which was a tad odd, considering that they had practically _lived_ together for three years. At times, Armin saw Adler go out of his way to ensure that it stayed that way. It was almost as if the redhead bore something he didn't want them to see.

Then, there was the observation that thin, barely noticeable dark rings were forming underneath his eyes and that he was always the first one to wake in the mornings. His caffeine addiction also seemed to be growing.

It had taken a while, but he'd finally gotten Eren to tell him the _exact_ events of the day Adler had 'died', the ones that Armin hadn't been there to witness.

It all made sense now, and oh how Armin wished it hadn't.

"Armin?" He belatedly realized that concerned gray irises were trained on him. "You okay? You spaced out there, a bit."

The blonde forced a smile. "I'm fine."

The redhead didn't look very convinced, but before he could voice his suspicions, he was drawn back into the verbal jest with Mina.

Armin had seen how unusually restricted Adler's movements had been while fighting Annie, and the way he'd acted afterwards had been less than reassuring. But, his friend had stopped acting strangely since then, so perhaps there wasn't anything to worry about, after all.

 **—()()()()—**

In a number of short weeks graduation day had finally arrived, and with it came time for the 104th Cadet Training Corps to officially disband.

Two hundred and eighteen cadets succeeded in graduating, some with high honours. All of the graduates from the Southern Division had assembled into the lot by the main building. From a slightly raised platform, Shadis ominously stared down at them, flanked by representatives from each regiment.

"Do you have heart!?" Their former instructor demanded, his golden irises glaring at them through the mild moonlight.

"Sir!"

"As of this moment, you have three options open to you." Keith stated, "Choose wisely."

"The Garrison regiment, whose sworn duty is to reinforce the walls. The Scout regiment, who venture out to retrieve our stolen land from the Titan menace. And lastly, the Military Police, who maintain law and order under direct orders from His Majesty, the King!"

They listened to his words, intently. They had worked hard for this, and the feeling of triumph was palpable in the air.

"Those eligible for the MP have already been named." He revealed. "The rest of you, take a good look!'

The top ten stood at the front in the order of their rankings, their figures were illuminated by the blazing torches.

Mikasa Ackerman, Adler Klein, Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, Eren Yeager, Jean Kirstein, Marco Bodt, Sasha Braus and Connie Springer.

"They are the best in your class!"

 **—()()()()—**

A celebratory feast was soon held in honour of the graduating cadets. It was a surprisingly extravagant affair, with _meat_ and milk actually being served. But Adler found that he couldn't stand to attend it any longer than necessary, so he'd left when he felt he'd stayed appropriately long enough.

He had always hated crowds.

But, the main reason was that the older graduates were allowed to consume booze, and while he would usually be able to deal with the smell of alcohol, he already had too much on his mind to get nostalgic.

For starters, which regiment was he going to join?

It was quite obvious that Eren was going to join the Scouts, the brunette had done his _very_ best to make that clear. Adler was still bothered by his friend's utter arrogance about the Titans. The Titans weren't a recent threat, they had been present for more than a century. More importantly, they'd defeated mankind in a _fraction_ of that time.

Did Eren really think he could beat them? The idea was just ludicrous. He could hardly do much as a mere soldier. No, Eren would need many years to become Commander, assuming he survived that long. By that time, it would be too late.

A part of him contemplated talking Eren out of it, but he quickly dismissed the notion. All it would achieve would be a punch to the face, and possibly something worse.

It was a certainty that Eren would join the Scouts, and he knew that Mikasa would follow him. There was little chance of Armin not doing the same.

So, that left _him_.

Unlike the others, Adler hadn't joined the military with a clear goal in mind. He had just done it because he couldn't think of anything else to do. He was indifferent to joining any of the regiments, although the idea of fighting carnivorous, naked giants wasn't very amusing to him.

Rapid footsteps broke his chain of thought, making him glance behind him. He subsequently met slightly bloodshot teal eyes.

"Adler?" Eren said in surprise.

"Did something happen?" He asked, almost immediately noticing his friend's distressed ire.

"Not really." The brunette shrugged, taking a seat beside him on the stone steps that lead into the dining hall.

A few ticks passed, and more footsteps were heard as Armin and Mikasa came into view.

Instead of saying anything, they simply sat down on the steps with them.

"That was quite a speech you gave, Eren." Armin finally remarked.

The brunette smiled sheepishly back at him. "Most of it was yours. The stuff you used to say, back in the day."

Armin looked startled for a moment. The blonde held a contemplative look, before suddenly exclaiming, "Well, I'm joining the Scouts, too!"

"Armin are you kidding me?" Eren cried out, completely taken by surprise. "Your life is with books!"

The blonde didn't meet his eyes, instead saying, "I'm tired of letting people fight for me."

That left no room for argument, and Eren graciously accepted his defeat.

Mikasa was the next to speak. "Looks like it's the Scouts for me, too."

"Mikasa!" The brunette helplessly exclaimed. "You're first place! You'd just be wasting your chance!"

"Understand this." She looked squarely into his eyes, "Where you go, I go. I made a promise to your mom. I'm not letting you die. I've got your back, whether you like it or not."

Eren fell silent with a huff, knowing that he'd already lost the argument.

They stayed quiet for several moments, watching the almost ethereal night sky sparkle above them. Unlike usual, there wasn't a single cloudy wisp in sight, and all of the stars were visible in their full splendour.

Adler couldn't help but contemplate that the possibility of not belonging in their company. All of them had unflinchingly proclaimed their desire to stay together and join the Survey Corps, all except him. He tried to say it, but his mouth dried up at the mere thought, and he swallowed thickly.

Was he actually afraid of the Titans? _'No.',_ he shook his head. He wasn't afraid of the Titans, he _couldn't_ be. He had experienced hundreds of dreams since the breach that kept him wakeful, and none of them had been about a titan.

Then, what could it be that was stopping him?

The sudden flash of something made his head spin, it had been so blindingly quick, he tried to discern what it was through an abrupt migraine that had blossomed along with it.

Clearing his head, he struggled to differentiate the images from each other.

 _'A sharp object, . . . two voices arguing. .'_

"Adler, are you feeling okay?"

He suddenly realized that Mikasa was staring at him. Actually, they _all_ were. "You seem distracted." She said, slowly.

"Oh?" He blinked, silently coughing. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Look." Eren started after a small silence, "If you're hiding something from us, then it's time you open up."

 _'What's there to hide?',_ he sarcastically mused. _'You already know everything.'_

"I told you," he reasserted, unfazed by their deeply dissecting glares, "it's nothing."

A few seconds was all it took for them to realize how futile it was to try to get anything out of him, proving that they knew him well enough.

Exchanging a silent glance with Armin, Eren sighed and sank back in defeat.

They watched silently as a shooting star streaked across the starry night sky, but it failed to have the desired effect on them because of the tense atmosphere that, so suddenly, began to suffocate them.

 **—()()()()—**

The redhead placidly filled his ODM gas canister. Sounds of metal clinking and steam releasing permeated the supply room around him, as some of the other graduates were being put to work.

Some of them had been charged with assembling their gears, some did maintenance while others were simply put on cleaning duty. The redhead was of the first bunch, after which, he was expected to help the others on the surface with cannon duty.

Apparently, he had a week left to decide which military regiment he was going to join. That would probably be enough time for most people, but Adler really wasn't sure about himself.

He tightened a hinge on his gear, securely fastening the canister to it.

His eyes glinted upon noticing something.

A piece of parchment, neatly folded in a square smaller than his finger nail, wedged between the juncture of the triggering mechanism in such a way that only the most thorough would have noticed it.

Adler adroitly removed the folded note, unconcerned with doing so discretely. He was the only one occupying that table, after all.

Outwardly dull, cinareal eyes fluidly skimmed through the contents.

He had only needed a glance of the slanting handwriting to realize who it was from.

 _'_

 _"You sure have grown in the three years since I pulled you out of that little river in Krolva. Although, I say that solely regarding your appearance. Specifically, your height. You're almost as tall as me now. Good job."_

Adler's mouth twitched. The sarcasm was strong with this one.

 _"In all seriousness, be proud of graduating. Even if you were only second best. Trust me, I have felt enough shame on your behalf."_

The redhead deadpanned. _'Get to the point.'_

 _"I would have met you in person on your big day. I just didn't have the chance, so I sent this letter in compensation. For now, I have some business in Mitras._

 _I'll hopefully see you soon._

 _-G.D"_

Having read it, the teen pocketed the refolded note with little ceremony and returned to inspecting his equipment.

 _'Of course,_ he _would risk gear malfunction for some dramatics.'_

Ignoring the twinge of what was _definitely_ not disappointment, Adler briefly wondered what _business_ Garren could possibly have in the Interior. The man was a former Scout, surely there could not be many reasons.

A sudden, _distinctly_ bad feeling shattered that line of thoughts, and a tensed redhead immediately stood up.

Then, the ground would _lurch._

* * *

 _Please review._


	5. Chapter 4

_Attack on Titan/SNK belongs to Isayama, Kodansha, Wit Studio and Funimation._

 _ **Disclaimer:**_ _ **The last few scenes of the previous chapter were altered to better fit the narrative. From here on, the story may get darker.**_

 _Emphasis._

 _'Character thought.'_

 **—()()()()—** Change of character perspective/change of scene/ line-break

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

 ** _Reality_**

For a moment, it seemed as though Trost itself had teetered from its very foundation, the violent shockwaves rupturing through it with ease akin to a raging wildfire through dead wood.

Then it only left silence in its wake. A tense, suffocating silence laced with a feeling of anxiety and confusion that reached a crescendo making it difficult to breathe.

Cinareal eyes fluttered open, slightly unfocused but doubtlessly alert. Fortunately enough, Adler had managed to remain standing on his feet, unlike a _number_ of individuals who hadn't, and had been sent toppling with the tilting of the floor.

Visibility in the room was very low, Adler noted as he calmed his racing pulse and tried to shake off the ringing of his ears.

That the ruthless shockwave had managed to send _every_ oil lamp in the room clattering down to the musty floor was a pretty unfortunate occurrence and the reason why it was difficult to see.

Clouds of dust that had been kicked up from the less than pristine equipment were further making it difficult to see, and Adler could not tell where the exact epicenter of the apparent explosion had been. The way vibrations traveled through the elevated depots made it difficult to judge their source, but he could say with some confidence that the gate was a good guess.

Just as some of the dust had settled and most of the other graduates were in the process of helping each other up, the door slammed open and the oddly illuminated silhouette of a man stood framed in the doorway.

"Trost has been compromised!" The man shouted, his features drenched in shadows and voice quaking, albeit marginally, "I repeat, Trost has been compromised!"

That single utterance snapped Adler back into his normal level of cognition, ignoring the certain _cold_ feeling that chilled down his spine, the graduate immediately started linking his remaining gear with a quick but careful pace.

But, the others were a little slower in catching on. Their deafening silence apparently spoke well enough for their state of confusion, hence the man let out a vaguely frustrated noise at it.

"There is no time for this!" He barked, voice cracking, "Rendezvous up at the main building for further instructions! _Now!_ "

With that, he rushed off, presumably to the next chamber.

At first, there was no immediate reaction.

Then it sank in.

 **—()()()()—**

Having not stayed long, a fully equipped Adler swiftly made his way down the path to the main building, the surreal sight of the smouldering corpse left of Trost's gate outwardly doing little to stop him.

 _Throngs_ of towering behemoths lumbered through the massive hole in Wall Rose, stomping into the outlier district and unleashing their ravenous maws upon its unwitting residents, eerily reminiscent of what little the redheaded teen remember of that day in Shiganshina.

But Adler oddly felt no form of panic upon hearing the first of the screams, nor upon feeling the earth creaking in protest against the immense weight suddenly straining on top of it.

No, as he neared the briefing site, Adler Klein felt absolutely nothing.

 **—()()()()—**

At the main assembly grounds, many cadets were already gathered and hastily arranged in a makeshift assembly.

The sight was not very reassuring.

Adler had never really been caught under any illusion that their three-year training regime would do a smidgen of anything to truly prepare them for their part in the war against the Titans. But seeing his cynicism actually being justified in the field did not _exactly_ put a smile upon his face.

Stealing a glance at his three friends should have lightened his spirits, since Eren's _fortune_ of being _exactly_ in the center of trouble had yet to have failed him, even in _this_ instance as he had been _exactly_ above the gate, but that strange feeling of unnatural apathy still seemed to stay metaphorically wrapped around him.

At the helm stood a tall Garrison officer, his face tellingly grim and bugging eyes barely concealing the lack of control he was feeling at the situation.

Kitz Weilman stood stiffly, gaunt features stony and not very _comforting._

The man hoarsely barked out orders, voice ringing through the silent field with such an inflection that it more than sufficed to convey the true turmoil of the situation.

"I want everyone to split into four squadrons, as practiced!"

 _'If the higher-ups are this cagey,'_ Adler mused, eyes briefly sweeping over to his classmates, _'I can't_ wait _to see how confident the others are.'_

"Each squadron is responsible for weapon resupply, message relay, and engagement under the command of the Garrison Regiment!" Weilman went on.

"The intercept squadron will be comprising the Vanguard," he stated. "The cadets will be taking the Middle-guard, led by the support squad, while the Rearguard will go to the elites!"

With his features grimly accentuated, Weilman's eyes narrowed, "I expect you all to commandeer your posts knowing that the Advance Team has been wiped out!"

 _That_ certainly garnered a reaction _._

The veterans that made up the Advanced Core had long held a near-legendary status, being the sole line of defense that had delayed the Titan outpour during the previous invasion long enough for the Marians to escape. Their demise indeed meant that the situation was _very_ dire, as it also meant that the Garrison Vanguard had already lost a third of its reserve.

It also exposed just how complacent Humanity had become over the last five years.

"That's right!" Weilman's voice cracked theatrically, "The outer gate is gone! The Titans are _here_! This indicates that the Armoured Titan is likely to appear! If, and _when_ it does, the inner gate will also be history!"

From then on, Adler tuned out both the rambling commands that remained of the captain, as well as the fearful murmurings of those around him.

He frowned slightly, ignoring the . . . _less_ than pleasant memories of Shiganshina that were almost resurfacing, and instead focussing upon the details. Of course, Adler had been taken out early on, but from what he remembered, and of the accounts of others, the Armoured Titan had broken down the gate mere minutes after the Colossal's arrival, almost like a . . . synchronized attack.

He glanced at the pale, bloodless sky. Judging by the position of the sun, no less than _twenty minutes_ had passed since this latest attack.

The redhead found himself wondering, _'Why wait so long? Even if they were acting on instinct . . . maybe, certain types of Titans hunt in packs.'_ He frowned. _'No, that doesn't make sense. We would've known by now. Could it be-'_

"Desertion is _treason_ and punishable by _death!_ "

Weilman's latest holler had successfully ripped his attention back to the gathering, and the boy nearly smiled.

 _'Of course, nothing motivates better than a death threat. Why don't you add a lynching to cinch it?'_

But the sarcasm was unusually halfhearted.

Despite the bleak nature of the situation and his panicking peers around him, Adler strangely felt . . . not quite _apathetic_ but something uncannily related.

As the assembly scattered like ants in a wildfire upon being dismissed, Adler allowed himself to loiter around a moment longer.

Maybe, he should not be mulling over the strange absence of the Armoured Titan. It was obviously an aberrant, thus its behavioural patterns could not be very predictable like the usual ones. Perhaps, it had simply decided to join the previous attack upon a feral whim. Or perhaps it had even perished one day over these last few years. Though, he found that _very_ hard to believe.

Though different thoughts entangled, his expression remained impassive.

 _'Still, something doesn't feel . . . right.'_

"Cadet Klein?"

Adler blinked. A man was expectantly staring at him.

"Sir?"

This Garrison soldier was ostensibly calmer than any other official he had encountered that day, the man's onyx eyes appearing completely focused. Though, Adler still noticed the subtle lines around his jaw betraying his inner tension.

After a moment, the man spoke in a very matter-of-fact way.

"You have been assigned to the Vanguard."

His mind screeched to a brutal stop.

"A-Aren't the cadets' duties confined to the middle guard?" He heard himself ask.

"Yes." Came the oddly blasé response. "However, as I'm sure you heard Captain Weilman so _eloquently_ articulate, the Vanguard is on its knees. Right now, we need more warm bodies, more than we can provide."

Though this man appeared young, the Vanguard consisted mostly of seasoned veterans, being still capable Titan-slayers but slightly more expended in frailty than their juniors. Normally, they each held an admired status among the novices and largely took on duties of supervising, training and refining the newest soldiers.

But in the possibility of a breach, their role was of the sacrificial lamb, prioritizing the delay of the first Titan waves to buy the interior lines time, in return over their own lives, which was why it only consisted of voluntary members.

But, that they did not even have enough spare men too. . .

"That bleak?" It was so absurd, he honestly felt vague twisted amusement.

"Yes," the man recited. "You were recommended because of your apparent ' _flair'_ for the gear."

The man's gaze hardened. "Any problem with that?"

A tense second had passed in silence before he finally responded with a stoic, "Of course not, sir."

A glance later, the man nodded. "Go over your gear one more time. Then meet with us at the southern deployment zone. You have five."

With the man's departure, the graduate obediently set to inspecting his equipment.

The Vanguard had set a perimeter around the entry point. Adler would literally be transversing towards the _heart_ of the breach. The very source of the beings currently shaking the ground beneath him. And yet, he still felt no discernable trepidation.

When he was younger, just before his mother's disappearance, he used to envy the sky for its apparent peace with its own existence, as childish as that may sound. It had just always seemed so unflappable and unyielding to him. A storm could brew over and tarnish its surface, yet it would always reemerge the next day with infuriating ease and lack of consequence. Adler had wanted to be apathetic, tranquil, unshakable like the sky.

Ironically enough, at the cusp of Mankind's demise was when he experienced anything remotely close to such a feeling..

Not long after, the sound of footsteps made him glance up.

All anxious in some way, Eren, Mikasa, and Connie were heading his way

"What are you doing?" Eren asked, and the relief from seeing him and the others mentally intact after a face-off with the Colossal Titan itself seemed to help the redhead focus.

"Checking my gear." He responded distractedly, tightening a screw.

Eren frowned, "Really? It looked like you were spacing out, your eyes got all glazed up."

"Did they?" He responded rhetorically.

"Well," Connie began, and impressively, his voice was only a slightly higher pitch than usual, "then you better hurry up unless you _want_ to get arrested by Weilman. We're about to move out."

Finally having finished checking the entire gear for faults, Adler got to his feet, "I'm not with the Middleguard."

"W-What?"

"Apparently, I'm needed at the Vanguard," he avoided their eyes as he said this.

 _'Here it comes. . .',_ he mentally counted.

"What?" Eren half shouted, his eyes _disapproving_. "That's where most of the _Titans_ will be! They can't send you there!"

Mikasa's discontent was only betrayed by a half-hidden frown and the barely perceptible slackness of her face, but her shorter peer had visibly paled.

Adler shrugged. "They're low on men."

Eren took a step towards him, "Adler, you don't get it, you-"

" _Regardless_ ," he interjected evenly, "of what either of us thinks, it's not up to us."

Connie stared at him, appearing genuinely unsettled. Finally, he shook his head incredulously, "You're way too calm about this, man."

Adler arched an eyebrow at him, "Better staying calm than panicking."

Then, it seemed to have finally sunken in, and the resultant expressions sent his way were _less_ than reassuring.

The teen under scrutiny deadpanned. " _Thanks_ for the vote of confidence, guys."

Suppressing a sigh, he added, "Look, this isn't goodbye, you know."

Eren briefly struggled to find words, before his teal eyes hardened with resolve and he held out his fist, "Just don't do anything stupid. "

"Says the guy who charged at the Colossal Titan on _impulse_." Adler retorted, not very impressed.

The brunette appeared entirely unrepentant and fully ready to argue again, but Adler would beat him to it.

The taller boy's eyes marginally narrowed, his voice was dead serious as he spoke, "I'm serious, Eren. We can argue about this later, but you need to get a handle on your emotions. You're leading a _squad_ now. Their lives will depend on your decisions as much as your own does."

He would later realize exactly how hypocritical his words had really been.

Though his childhood friend did not look very happy, Eren finally nodded with a silent promise.

They bumped fists,

"Good." Adler turned to walk away, briefly addressing the other two teenagers, "Take care, Connie. See you, Mikasa, and say hi to Armin for me."

Perhaps not his most tactful goodbye, but he had never been good with words.

Now, _what_ was that annoying sensation thrumming at the back of his head?

 **—()()()()—**

"So, you made it," the Garrison soldier whom Adler had met earlier remarked. He had dark hair ending just above the juncture of his onyx eyes, which strangely appeared just as mild as before despite Adler's heavy tardiness.

The deceptively insipid man was waiting for him along with two other people, a woman almost eye level to him, with raven braids and another taller, sturdier-looking man with a similar haircut to the first.

"I'm Alaric," the first man said without gesticulating to himself, "apologies for not properly introducing myself earlier."

"Adler," he replied automatically, "at your service."

The other two followed Alaric's lead and offered their names, the taller man introducing himself as Klaus, while the woman's name was Adalie.

"As much as I'm enjoying pleasantries," Klaus had voiced, "we ought to get going, already."

Alaric nodded in affirmation and deftly triggered his gear, and Adler briefly tensed for the initial whiplash before he followed after the other three soldiers in propelling into the air.

Cold, _fast-_ moving air rushed against Adler's face and whipped his hair as he navigated through Trost's sophisticated infrastructure with his temporary squad. Quick rising pillars of smoke dotted the skyline, though people could fortunately not be seen in that area.

The portrait painted was not one unfamiliar to the redhead. In fact, it eerily reminded him of what little he remembered from the incident in Shiganshina. However, unlike what happened five years ago, the situation seemed to be not quite as unsalvageable yet, as the lack of blood staining the streets and screams permeating the air seemed to indicate.

 _'The rearguard must be doing its job and evacuating, then'_ , he briefly concluded, ducking under a sudden scaffolding and swiveling towards the south of the city, where the ever daunting breach lay.

However, throughout this fly through, Adler could not quite shake the feeling of eyes sporadically on his back.

Finally, once he and the rest of the team had landed on top of a courthouse suitably tall and sturdy enough, he turned around with an unreadable expression and faced the amber-haired woman behind him, "Is there a reason you've been watching me so closely?"

It took a beat for Adalie to respond, and she had the grace to look slightly flustered, "Well, sorry, don't take this the wrong way, but . . . aren't you acting a little _too . . ._ reserved?"

He stared blankly at her. _'Why do people keep saying that?'_

"I mean it. You're a recruit suddenly thrust into a life and death situation, even before you've had the chance to choose your regiment, and you're treating it like just another training exercise with ease with which you're moving." She elaborated, genuinely sounding concerned.

"Isn't that a good thing?" He questioned. Did they _want_ him to be shaking in his boots? _That_ feeling would not let him, even if he had wanted to oblige.

 _Unexpectedly,_ her eyes hardened. " _Yes._ "

He blinked.

 _"What?"_

"You heard me, it isn't." She stepped up to him, almost being tall enough to meet his taken aback features with her judging hazel eyes, "If you're stopping yourself from panicking a little, _don't._ We don't need you suddenly breaking down at a very bad time."

His own cinereal eyes narrowed at this. "I _won't."_

"Not to interrupt your couple's quarrel," Klaus' gruff voice interjected, "but we're here."

Though she looked like she _really_ desired to continue the argument, the Garrison girl stuck to her professionalism shut her mouth and nodded.

Although slightly annoyed and taken aback, Adler shrugged it off allowed his eyes to follow his teammate's.

There, several miles away lay the massive hole kicked into Trost.

Suddenly, Adler felt glad that Garren had had the foresight to inform him of his business trip to Mitras. Still, had the boy not found his note . . . he would have had to deal with a certain _distraction_ during this mess, which would not have been very convenient.

Gazing at the relentless _throngs_ of the ravenous beasts pouring in through the gap in Wall Rose, Adler could not ignore his continued perplexity at the strange calm he was still somehow maintaining despite being met by such a _terrifying_ sight. This was even more unusual as just the night prior, a mere _mention_ had shaken him, but now?

Nothing _._

He glanced at the others.

Since this mess had began, he had witnessed mingling expressions of horror, unease or utter terror on the faces of his peers. They were _not_ prepared for this, three meager years under Shadis had done _nothing._ He had been called a cynic for it, especially by Eren, but Adler had never truly wondered about the contrary. What good would three years do to prepare people for a _century-_ old plight?

Of course, as he had observed earlier, he was proven right.

But, the faces of these soldiers were different. Although their faces betrayed no blatant unease, they were _unmistakably_ unsettled. Yet, they had still maintained a poise that promised no compromise throughout his brief time with them.

Adler just felt . . . different. He noticed the absence of even the casual cautiousness he felt since _that_ day. He just felt . . . detached from it all.

 _'What I would do for some caffeine right now.'_ The boy distractedly brought a hand to his temples, _'It might just help with this headache. And this stupid . . . feeling.'_

Adler shook his head. _'Now is not the time to dwell on it, K-'_

Suddenly, the tremors _magnified_ , canisters of ODM gas loudly released and light seemed to _disappear._

"Klein, _watch out_!"

 **—()()()()—**

For Armin Arlert, what had felt like a lifetime of tragedies had all occurred in the span of a few minutes.

The blonde genius stood rigidly upon a low-laying slanted roof, his shoulders slouched, the hilts of his swords held slackly within his numb palms, his sky-blue eyes wide with shock.

He indeed felt the inhuman heat radiating from the hulking behemoth inching its way towards him. He also noticed its sordid features which were well defined under the _mockingly_ bright sky. Yet, he just could not will himself to move.

Bloodcurdling screams pierced through the air, and Armin knew _exactly_ who they had belonged to.

 _'Why?'_ He felt the engorged rods of muscle and gluttony clutch the back of his jacket. _'Why can't I move?'_ He also felt himself being lifted, almost held with perverse gentleness, and he indeed, with frightening clarity, watched the distance between him own body and the gaping maw of death rapidly decrease.

 _It_ finally sank in.

They were _all_ dead. And Eren . . .

Armin screamed.

 **—()()()()—**

He had not even realized that it, but a bloodthirsty beast had been targeting him since before he and the Support Squad had even landed upon that archaic courthouse.

Throughout his brief verbal skirmish with Adalie, unerring onyx eyes had been fixed upon the young human with the strange red shade of hair, twitching at even the most subtle of movements, patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to _strike._

Ordinary titans would _never_ have shown such exuberant resolve and patience. Hence, this specimen was _different._

It was a deviant. An abnormal.

 **—()()()()—**

"Klein! _Watch out!"_

Blades had immediately unsheathed at the concise warning shout, but even the fastest reflexes would not have outpaced the sheer ground covered by those _massive_ fingers, and Adler found himself restrained before he had even fully known it, his arms forced to his sides, hands still gripping the swords at a useless angle.

As he was lifted towards the jagged cavern of enamel that awaited him, with no possible way of escape, yet his cinereal eyes remained constricted and Adler found himself oddly . . . lacking any kind of fear.

Here he was, undoubtedly approaching a bloody death, yet apart from the irritating heat emanating from the meaty hand constricted around him, the teen was awfully quiet.

The boulder-sized eyes and ravenous grin somehow did not faze him.

It was actually quite perplexing.

 _'Why? Why am I so-'_

The sudden sound of flesh-shredding slashes and the glint of arching metal _ripping_ through the titan's wrist succeeded to rouse him from his _unusual_ stupor.

Fully alert, the boy's eyes sharpened through the soaring drops of blood with renewed focus.

With almost superhuman speed, a sword _sliced_ upwards and cleanly severed the bottom two fingers atop the newly slackened palm, before proceeding to cut diagonally between the knuckles of the remaining appendages and reducing the hand to a bloody stump.

With the return of his mobility, Adler spun away from the mangled mess and triggered his gears metal hooks to embed deep within the ten meter titan's jutting clavicle, using it to attack from directly above the creature, in a red-tipped blur, he slashed while moving vertically downwards, carving through the base of the neck of the abnormal.

Just before the newly killed behemoth crashed into the cobblestone in wreckage of smoke and blood, Adler had landed lightly on top of a high roof.

Before he could even _try_ to wipe the smoking blood off his face, a hand on his shoulder made him turn around.

It was an unreadable Alaric.

"Are you trying to die, Klein?"

"No, sir." _'If looks could kill,'_ the teen mused, letting out a breath. "I'll be more vigilant going forward."

With hooded eyes, the Garrison soldier nodded.

"Damn, Weilman wasn't kidding when he said the vanguard's teeming with them," Klaus had remarked once he and Adalie had joined them, only offering the recruit a judgemental glance before eyeing the giants mindlessly stumbling towards the four people, shaking their perch. "Where the hell are the others?"

"It doesn't look like anyone has been cutting their numbers for quite some time now," Alaric noted flatly, his hands withdrawing his swords. "We may be too late."

Something cold and wet suddenly landed in Adler's hair. He glanced at the sky and noticed that it was actually snowing. Just an unusual, yet very mundane occurrence that could lead to a strange contrast with the heat radiating from the Titans.

 _'Why am I even thinking about this?'_

"Well, it's your call, sir." This time, Adalie was the one to dispel his thoughts.

Adler's eyes then wandered to a smaller group of seven titans to their east, mostly made up of the three to seven-meter varieties.

He frowned. Something felt _off_.

"We do as planned." Alaric reaffirmed. "Divert their attention from the interior long enough to buy time to evacuate the civilians."

Klaus nodded, voice hinting at ironic morbidity, "Of course, it will be _slightly_ more difficult with just the four of us."

Adler's eyes widened.

" _Move_!"

A second later, their perch _exploded_ in a spree of rubber and rebar, and the ground trembled with a force equivalent to blast of several tons dynamite.

A leering aberrant crouched awkwardly over the remains of the abused courthouse.

Its scrawny neck tilted perplexedly at its empty hand, it's limited mental cognition working overtime to process and evaluate the unexpected disappearance of its prey. _Just_ when it was beginning to come to a conclusion, it felt a sudden sting in the nape of its neck before its life was quite abruptly cut off.

The somber Klaus landed easily in tandem with the collapse of his latest kill. He turned to the adjacent building. "I have no idea how, but nice one on the warning, Klein! That one might have even gotten us!"

"Well, consider it a payment," Adler muttered, jumping to the same building. "You did the same for me back there."

"That kind of thinking isn't healthy!" The higher pitched voice signaled the arrival of Adalie. The young woman wasted no time in walking towards him until barely a few feet separated them, glaring at him.

 _'Do I rub her the wrong way or something?'_ the teen blinked. "What?"

Adalie almost seemed patient, as if dealing with an ignorant child. "Adler, this isn't just about repaying debts." Her expression marginally softened. "We look out for each other. It's how you survive as a team out here."

"She's right." Alaric halfheartedly chimed in, though not tearing his eyes away from the titans. "Simply put, Shadis was right to reevaluate its grade value at the start of his term."

After a few beats of silence, Adler shrugged and crouched down next to the slender soldier. "Whatever you say."

Adalie didn't exactly look _happy_ , but his response seemed to have appeased her for the moment and she joined him at Alaric's side.

However, had she been aware of his thoughts, she may have been a _little_ less satisfied.

He had had a reputation for being overtly jaded, after all.

 _'In this world, if you can't carry your own weight, then you don't deserve to breathe.'_ He stayed silent while he scouted the area, Eric had taught him well to avoid sharing his thoughts with all but a certain trio. _'Living it, you people should know that better than anyone else.'_

The four spread out, forming a vaguely tetrahedral formation that rendered enough distance between them to prevent rope entanglement, while simultaneously allowing enough retention of closeness to allow for assists. It was a fairly common tactic.

Soon enough, a couple from the horde attempted to foray deeper into the city. They were soon followed by their biological compatriots. Like moths to a light, the Titans poured into the four-cornered perimeter set up by the soldiers.

Then, three with the synchronization of the cogs of a wheel, one with the effectiveness of a knife, they struck.

 **—()()()()—**

He was barely there. Once his eyelids parted, they revealed glassy orbs, so unfocused and dull, just uncharacteristic and _wrong._

His right leg felt oddly numb, yet wet. It felt as if it was disconnected. Such an alien feeling.

Eren lay bloodied and motionless upon a cold, blood smeared rooftop. Leisurely, the brunette blinked blood out of his eyes. But, crimson tinting his vision was the least of his worries.

His right leg was missing.

 **—()()()()—**

A massive hand swiped at the sky, aiming for a tiny target swinging around its rotund owner.

An enormous face with uselessly wide eyes uncomprehendingly gaped at the blonde Vanguard operative continuing to narrowly evade its advances. The ground trembled as the aberrant Titan staggered at an increasing pace after the terrified man.

"Come on, you big bastard! _Try_ me!" The man shouted admirably, ducking under another grab and severing a few fingers in repayment.

Unfortunately, his luck then seemed to have run out.

His eyes dilated with horror and shock when he accidentally triggered his gas, "Oh, shi-"

The giant palm managed to swat the man out of the sky like a fly, sending him _crashing_ into a concrete wall in a building site down the street within milliseconds, eyes opened wide in unseeing horror, body leaning unnaturally against the curb, mouth still open in that exclamation that would never be complete again.

The Titan had stood still for a moment, blankly staring at the copious amounts of blood, entrails and bone matter dripping from its still outstretched palm.

Expectantly, it lost interest quick and _vaulted_ towards its next target, _snatching_ him right out of the air just as he narrowly escaped the grip of one of its equally primal brethren.

"Help me!" The man wailed, his arms uselessly stuck between the titan's fingers, "Please!"

Some hundred meters away, a seven-meter variety lifelessly toppled to the street and a lithe figure propelled itself through the dense smoke exuding from the mangled carcass.

 _'Damn it!'_ Klaus triggered his canisters to release in a bid to move faster, _'Just when I need support, those two are occupied on the other side of the neighbourhood.'_

Not long after deploying, the Intercept Squadron had been joined by remnants of the Vanguard. Unfortunately, despite their best efforts to evade them, the concentration of veterans had unwittingly attracted _hordes_ which had flanked them from both directions.

Alaric and Adalie had quickly become busy dealing with the few that had targeted them, while Adler seemed to have just up and vanished _._ Klaus had no idea whether the kid had just ran for it, or if he was one of the increasing victims of the massacre.

Unfortunately, what he had observed made Klaus doubtful about desertion.

Either way, the Vanguard could not possibly survive this.

"Please! Help me!" The still seized man futilely struggled against the leering giant, helpless to stop his descent into that maw of death.

Klaus gritted his teeth, ducking under the grasp of a third titan, before swiveling around and slicing its nape, something necessary for the Vanguard.

Yet, this decision may have cost someone their life.

While still in the air, Klaus noted with widened eyes that the writhing soldier was now less than a _meter_ away from certain death.

But a single moment before it was too late, something struck the titan from _above,_ effectively eliciting a gush of foul tasting blood and killing the sneering aberration.

As it tumbled down like a bag of bricks, the now mobile veteran somehow regained his wits and just managed to make it towards the nearest building.

"Thank you!" He shouted over at the slender figure landing next to him. Upon realizing who exactly it was, Klaus snorted.

 **—()()()()—**

 _Age 842_

Commandant Keith Shadis rode his black stallion through the forest, eyeing the many cadets visible and meticulously evaluating each and every movement they made. A week had passed since the first official day of the 104th and the developments were _promising_ to say the least.

 _'I daresay, this is the best batch in years.'_ Keith was _not_ a very optimistic man, so it would be proper to acknowledge that the 104th _indeed_ had some very talented people.

A sudden noise attracted his attention east, and he was reminded of that fact.

 _'Mikasa Ackerman, swift and concise. Excellent form.'_ The young lady absolutely tore through the neck of one of the dummies. Though not yet perfect, she was definitely on the right track. Once she had learned exactly how much force to put into those strokes, she could be a force to be reckoned with.

A sudden yelp to his left conveniently represented the second category.

Eren Yeager had indeed managed to slice through his target's neck but had _also_ happened to miss that crucial one meter wide, ten-centimeter deep spot by just a few inches.

"With that precision, you're better off cutting potatoes in the fields!"

"Yes, Sir!" The brunette shouted back, gritting his teeth and immediately readjusting his hold, taking off and scouring for another target.

Eren represented the driven ones. Not exactly on par with people like Ackerman, but indisputably possessing the unbridled enthusiasm to make it possible some day.

A flicker of red zipped through the giant trees and guided Shadis towards someone actually belonging to neither category of cadets, nor the third.

Adler Klein advanced from the dummies' four o'clock, and in an odd move, he unsheathed his swords in tandem with the release of the gas, _one at a time._

The kid would then use the momentum from the recoil to move quicker and using one blade as what one of the instructors had described as a walking stick, he would use to it carve a way up to the neck and strike.

His form was on par, if not slightly _more_ refined than Mikasa's. While hers seemed to require a certain amount of gas, Adler's traded greater tediousness in maintaining body posture to reduce the losses.

Keith hopped down from his horse.

 _'However. .'_

"Klein! Get over here!"

"Did I cut off the nape wrong, Sir?" The aloofly smiling Adler would ask upon answering the summoning, that _infuriating_ lack of intimidation still very noticeable.

"No, that was fine," Keith grunted. "What isn't fine is you using such upfront tactics when you stick out like a sore thumb."

Adler frowned, appearing genuinely confused. "Pardon, Sir?"

The Commandant did not look amused. "Your hair is as red as apples, Klein. For a big dumb titan, that isn't very dissimilar to blood."

 **—()()()()—**

 _Present_

But Adler did not wait more than a moment upon landing on the roof before launching back into the air and seeming to vanish from sight once again.

 _'I don't think they cut potatoes in fields, Commandant.'_

In reality, the recruit was keeping a low profile by moving swiftly at a low height, hidden from most eyes by the city's infrastructure. It was one of the tactics which he had thought up after receiving Shadis' remarks. His dark red hair and slightly pale skin indeed made him a more conspicuous prey compared to others. Perhaps, Adler mused, it had been the reason for the aberrant targeting him earlier.

An eight-meter variety was threatening to leave the northern end of the perimeter set up around the enemy entry point.

Once about a dozen meters away from it, Adler _struck._

His speed increased very suddenly with the trigger of his propulsion and he made himself more streamlined by curling into himself. Unsheathing one blade at a time, he _carved_ through the arm of the titan with the front sword.

Launching himself directly from above the disoriented creature, the second blade came down and the titan fell.

 **—()()()()—**

Eventually, the light snow had ceased and the sky had brightened as the hour passed noon, but that did little to create warmth to overcome the chill of dread within every soldier's heart.

As time went on, more of the Titans had ungracefully ducked under the jagged ceiling of the opening in Wall Rose, impeding their presence to the grounds of the once proud Trost.

The already meager number of soldiers who had survived the initial onslaught faced by the Vanguard had been summarily overwhelmed.

Despite the aid of the Intercept Squadron, human bodies still lost their warmth far quicker than their giant counterparts did and their collective number had been cut down to a quarter their original strength.

More importantly, Titans had broken through the perimeter.

The evacuees were next.

 **—()()()()—**

The large roof belonging to the local cathedral appeared to be the resting place for many soldiers.

Some were laid out motionless, bloodstains stemming from whichever injuries they had incurred. Others were crouched down and panting, but _conscious_ nonetheless.

Other bodies were scattered throughout the area, but they were just that, bodies. Mere husks of the people they once represented, cold and pale as the white of their half-open eyes.

Klaus ignored the sweat trailing down his forehead, his swords were brandished the man was completely focussed on a titan about two hundred meters away from his position.

The sound of metal touching the roof made him glance backwards.

"You good, Klein?"

The kid was crouched on one knee, with his head turned down, the bangs of his hair nearly covered his eyebrows, but his gray eyes were still visible and they seemed as calm and focused as ever despite the small dot of blood under his bangs.

"I'm fine, just need a moment." Consistently, the response was steady and clear.

 _'He's winded, alright, but you wouldn't think he's killed five of them.'_ The veteran mused, just barely shaking his head. _'This generation seems crazier than mine. Should I be proud or worried?'_

"Behind you!"

Adler had suddenly sprung up and whipped his sword forward, the blade _released_ right above the veteran, piercing through a massive palm.

Klaus ducked just quickly enough to miss the shower of steaming blood from the wound of the startled giant.

Behind it, a figure appeared and dual blades struck through its neck.

A familiar woman landed with practiced ease upon the roof as her latest target crashed down behind her.

"Thank you, Adalie. Where the hell is the resupply unit?" Klaus asked irritably, replacing his ODM blades.

"They never showed up," Adalie responded, clenching her jaw.

"It's time for a reevaluation," Alaric stated, lightly landing upon the same building. He took a few steps towards the others, briefly glancing at Adler before primarily addressing his usual team members.

"As it is, the Vanguard is finished. Too many of us are dead or injured." The slender man tonelessly stated. "Despite the dozens we've killed, _many_ got through us."

'Yes. Plainly, we've failed our objective. " Klaus grunted. "But what's taking them so long? We still haven't heard the signal bell, and-"

A loud, metallic sound reverberated through Trost, unmistakably the toiling of a large bell.

"Well, look at that," Adalie muttered, sitting down with an exhausted huff of air. She leaned back and supported herself with her hands on the ground behind her back. "Now, we just need to save ourselves."

"That may be easier said than done." The youngest of the bunch muttered, a little startled when _all_ three veterans shot ludicrous looks at him.

"What?"

"Care to elaborate?" Klaus said, more as a command rather than an actual question.

It would take Adler a few seconds to realize that they had genuinely expected an answer.

He wouldn't take the bait.

" _Regardless,"_ Alaric finally affirmed, yet not quite shifting the focus from the teenager. "We need to decide an appropriate course of action."

"Again, the Vanguard is finished. Too many of us are dead or injured and the amount of Titans who've gotten past us is flatly unacceptable."

"As it is," Klaus started, "the _ideal_ response would be for us to make our way with the survivors and help the Middleguard, but that's not _very_ viable right now _,_ to put it gently."

"And that's assuming that there's anything left of it." Adalie pointed out. "They've undoubtedly taken a hit. Even if they weren't rookies, with the resupply units not making their way to us, I doubt they had it any better."

Suddenly, an epiphany seemed to shine through Alaric's onyx eyes. "How far are you from empty, Adler?"

The boy blinked upon the sudden question but answered almost immediately. "Not much. About half, I'd say."

" _'Not much',_ he says," Klaus muttered, his face actually bearing the first genuine smile the teenager had seen all day. "Adler, I'm on _fumes._ "

Adler was speechless.

"I'm closer to a quarter, myself," Adalie muttered halfheartedly.

"Huh, I'd say I'm in the same boat as Klaus." The Captain said, he too experiencing strange amusement at the fact.

"Out here, the purpose of every single measure we take is to succeed, _not_ to survive. That's a bonus, not the priority, and each and every one of us was fully aware of that when we signed up and chose to stay."

The man turned to the still taken aback teen. "With this taken into consideration, Adler, you're the one with the greatest likelihood of succeeding in providing aid to the Middleguard. The best course of action is to take whatever you have left and use it to help them, rather than staying here with men who are essentially, already dead."

That strange smile once again broke across the Captain's sharp features. "I don't know if you know this, but your _'flair'_ conserves a considerable deal of steam and blades. We, well, lack it, and I'm sure that most of your peers do, as well. It's valuable."

A long, but not quite uncomfortable silence would follow, as the three veterans awaited the redheaded teenager's response.

 _'I won't fault him for taking his time,'_ the Garrison captain mused knowingly. _'Despite being so cold and detached throughout this dismal mess, in the end, a kid is still a kid.'_

" _Fine."_

All three veterans looked up in surprise.

He had already turned his back to them, his glinting blades were half unsheathed in his peculiar way.

"Judging from what I can see, you have at least twenty minutes before you encounter another one," Adler's voice had not changed its even inflection. In fact, it may have been even more flat than before. "But I'll get you help before then. Just, try not to die and try to keep the others from doing it, thanks."

Not a moment later, Adler triggered his hooks to launch, kicking off dust as he jumped off of the large cathedral.

 _'My,'_ Alaric watched the boy's back as long as he could before he quickly turned out of his sight. _'What a weird kid.'_

He turned to his peers.

"Well, you heard him."

 **—()()()()—**

It was all _his_ fault. They were all dead, and it was his fault.

"-min."

Why had it needed to be this way? Why did reality have to have such a cruel, twisted and ironic sense of humour? Why have the useless one survive?

 _"Armin!"_

Armin blinked.

Someone had their hand on his shoulder.

Those striking gray eyes, ones he had known for most of his life, gazed at him with pure and genuine concern.

"Are you okay, Armin?" Adler repeated, and Armin could detect a hint of genuine unease creep through the usual calm of his friend.

"I-I'm sorry." Armin finally looked at him straight in the eyes, his own trailing doleful tears.

"He's dead."

* * *

A/N: Reviews are appreciated. As I said, this story will continue. My profile has reasons for delays. I apologize to someone whom I promised this would come out a lot sooner.

Until next time.


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